Go the Distance
by geminisonic
Summary: Sadie Stark story based on Iron Man 3. Tony faces his greatest threat yet; the Mandarin, and caught in the middle are the love of his life, Pepper and his daughter, Sadie. He soon finds that he's faced with a question: Can Iron Man protect his daughter? Or can a father? Rated T for violence, sex. refs., language, and some bad parenting.
1. Chapter 1

**HOLY AWESOMENESS I'm BACK! It is so great to finally bring Sadie back, everybody. I missed writing about her so much and was so ecstatic to finally see Iron Man 3 and begin another journey with her. I just want to say first and foremost, how much I am so grateful to you all for reading and reviewing my stories. I have truly come a long way from a year ago and it is all thanks to you guys for loving my stories and telling me so. I could not have done this without you! **

**With that said, I'm ready to get writing and reading. I hope you all enjoy it. All my love-Geminisonic (Emily)**

**Go the Distance**

Sadie tapped her pencil on her desk. She was distracted and knew that any minute, her fourth grade substitute Mr. Sunshine, yes Mr. Sunshine, would crack down on her for making noise during the exam. It didn't matter; she and nearly half the class were already done. He only gave them exams because he wasn't as smart as their real fourth grade teacher Mrs. Hopewell, and he had nothing better to do than play Angry Birds on his phone.

She suddenly heard a popping noise and looked over. Sean was obviously done with his exam and making obnoxious popping sounds with his mouth. She looked down only to hear another popping sound from her other side. She couldn't help but smile when she saw Tanner making the popping sound. He tried not to snort and acted innocent.

Mr. Sunshine, yes Mr. Sunshine, looked up angrily, "Quiet!" he barked.

Tanner and Sean snorted quietly.

Sadie couldn't stop herself when she looked over to make sure their tyrant of a substitute wasn't looking so she herself could make a popping sound.

Just then, Heather made one too.

Next thing she knew they were all making popping noises randomly in the room and would act innocent when Mr. Sunshine, yes Mr. Sunshine, would look up angrily.

"Just because your teacher is on maternity leave does not mean you can all act like children!" he barked again.

Suddenly, Polly raised her hand, "Sir…we are children." She said defiantly.

Everyone sniggered in the room, causing Mr. Sunshine, yes Mr. Sunshine, to turn red.

The bell rang and everyone ran up to go grab their things, while handing in their exams.

They looked forward to Christmas break. Because by then they were home and once break was over their real teacher would be back.

"Don't think I won't be telling your teacher about your behavior!" Mr. Sunshine yelled at them all as they filed out. They could care less; once they got back he'd be gone. They'd take a rainy day over his teaching.

Sadie high-fived Polly on the way out. She held her head high and finally ranted when they got outside to wait for their rides home, "God, he makes me so mad!" Polly yelled.

Sadie nodded, "You know you'd think with a name like Sunshine, he'd be more…"

"Sunny?" Tanner said, coming up behind them.

They all barked with laughter.

"He should have been named Mr. Panda. Cause he sure is a sad one." Katie said, catching up to them. They all laughed again. Sadie couldn't be happier. Sure her substitute was an idiot, but at least she got to be with her friends. These days they were becoming her family. Pepper was always so busy at Stark Industries and her dad had been so busy in his shop, he barely noticed her. So Sadie always spent time with her friends. She hated feeling like she didn't want to be around her dad anymore, but truth was, she just didn't. She even hated admitting that she missed her Uncle Tony, the guy who let her sit on his desk and help him with his suit. The dad who kept her safe, held her close, and danced with her.

Now…this person, the one who ignored her, forgot her recitals, and never let her near him was the one she just hated to be around. Every time she wanted to approach him, she found she just couldn't do it and didn't want to. She wanted to scream and holler and tell him what a jerk he was, but instead, she saw the look on his face. The look of worry and stress and found she just couldn't confront him. Truth be told she was scared of him now. He hardly ate, hardly slept, and when he looked at her, he looked at her like she was growing five heads. So she turned to her friends for comfort and did what she wanted to do.

Pepper's car pulled up.

"See you tonight, Sadie." Polly said, happily.

"Yeah, don't forget to bring that CD!" Sadie said, running to the car.

"I won't!" Polly said.

"Bye Sadie!" Tanner called, along with her other friends, "Have a good Christmas!"

She waved sadly, sad to leave them for break. At least she'd made plans with them to spend some time.

She got into Pepper's car, "Hi Mommy." She said.

"Hi sweetie." Pepper smiled, "Excited for break?"

Sadie shrugged.

"What's that about?" Pepper laughed, acting shocked.

"I'm excited to have a sleepover with Polly tonight!" Sadie admitted.

Pepper smiled, "That's good. You know, I feel you and I should go out tomorrow. Did you wanna go shopping?"

"No thanks, Mom." Sadie said.

Pepper looked hurt, but understood. She was constantly taking Sadie everywhere but to Tony these days. She just didn't want her to see what he was doing to himself. She wanted a distraction for Sadie but she had to admit, the shopping and girls day out bits were getting old. Sadie wanted her dad, she knew it. But she just didn't know how to help Sadie any more than what she was doing now.

She drove off and it felt pretty quiet in the car, so Pepper decided to try talking to Sadie, "How was class?"

Sadie shrugged again, "Mr. Sunshine hates us so he made us take another exam."

Pepper raised her eyebrows, "God I can't believe there's a man named Mr. Sunshine."

"Yeah, he sounds like a Care Bear, but he's more like a Grumpy Cat." Sadie said.

Pepper laughed. It never failed to amaze her how very much like Tony she was. She was thankful Sadie had friends who championed for her. Pepper didn't know if Sadie would be able to handle Tony right now without her friends.

They pulled up to the house and Pepper stopped the car suddenly.

"What?" Sadie asked nervously. After being kidnapped in Libya she was more scared than usual about sudden stops in the car.

"Oh…my…God…" Pepper groaned, closing her eyes.

Sadie got out with Pepper and stared open mouthed at the gigantic bunny in the driveway. It was absolutely and unnecessarily huge. It had a pink bow on it that said _Merry Christmas Pepper_.

"Please tell me he meant for that to be for you…" Pepper said.

Sadie continued to stare at the obnoxious gift. Thank God that wasn't for her. But a part of her wondered what her dad had gotten her. She grew angry and realized her dad always did stupid things like this when he knew he was doing something wrong. He never truly made up for it, instead he got crap like this for her or Pepper and then went back to doing what he did best; ignore them.

She walked right past it, "Maybe Dummy will help me blow it up later." She smiled mischievously.

Pepper groaned and walked in right behind her. She prayed there wasn't a giant bear in the living room.

Sadie walked in and was glad to see no bear. She hardly expected anything these days. He usually just forgot about her. She looked up and suddenly shrieked, stopping dead.

Iron Man sat on the couch, waiting for them.

"Dad?" Sadie asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Oh God, are you seriously wearing that around the house now, Tony?" Pepper said, putting her bag down.

"How was work? School?" her dad asked. Sadie glared at the thing. That totally wasn't her dad. But she didn't even care at this point to tell Pepper, she'd figure it out. And Sadie wanted her dad to get caught for this crap. Sadie walked past her to go to her room.

"Sadie!" the suit said, "Early present on the table for you."

"Bite me." Sadie said, walking away to her room.

She closed the door and went to Kala who was lying on her bed waiting for her. Kala wagged her tail weakly and smiled at her. Sadie gave her a big hug and kiss, coming to sit on the bed with her faithful dog.

Kala was starting to look grey in places, but she remained loyal and sweet to the very end and Sadie wouldn't trade her for anything.

She sat back on the bed and turned on her radio. Christmas music was playing and she usually enjoyed it. These songs only played once a year and sure they were annoying but hey, once a year was fine with her.

She got changed and decided to go out and see what her dad actually got her. She found the table and noticed a box, wrapped rather nicely.

She sighed and opened it. It was a white box and she pulled the lid only to find a picture of a manatee. She saw a card and opened it.

She nearly fainted.

She ran downstairs, screaming excitedly.

"YOU BOUGHT ME A MANATEE! YOU BOUGHT ME A MANATEE! YOU BOUGHT ME A MANATEE!" she shrieked.

Pepper jumped when Sadie came streaking into the lab and her dad actually smiled at her.

She suddenly stopped dead and realized she hadn't really seen her dad in a while. He looked different. All her excitement vanished in an instant and she grew angry again looking at this shell of a man who stared at her. He might as well just be the suit.

"You like it?" he asked her, excitedly.

Sadie put on a fake smile and nodded, remembering why she came down there in the first place, "Yeah…it's great." She said, trying not to choke.

She looked at Pepper and said, rather simply, "He bought me a manatee."

Pepper stared at Tony, her mouth open, "Tell me that it's not in the swimming pool!"

"Relax, it's at the zoo." Tony explained, taking off his holographic head set, "Sadie just owns it is all. Kind of like boarding a horse. You really like it Sade's?" he asked her again.

Sadie nodded and backed away, "Polly's coming over." She said, and then went upstairs.

Tony stared after her and Pepper gave him a look.

"She okay?" he asked.

Pepper merely stared at him, "Tony, do you even know what's been going on in Sadie's life lately?" she asked.

"Sure, she's in fourth grade, ballet, and she does other stuff." He said, "Don't know why she's so snippy with me though. I mean I got her a manatee."

Pepper glared at him, "You haven't even bothered to come out of your little hidey hole to spend one fraction of a second with your daughter, so her being pissed at you is perfectly justifiable, manatee or no."

Pepper turned, "Polly may be coming over tonight, but she won't be here for another two hours. I expect you to be upstairs talking with your daughter and catching up. Do you understand?" Pepper growled.

"Pep, I have tried talking to her, she won't talk to me." Tony said, "It's like she doesn't want to."

"Well, gee, sorry if I have no sympathy for you, but that doesn't mean you give up and come back down here to tinker." Pepper snarled, "You push for your daughter. She may be well now, but that doesn't mean you couldn't lose her anyways."

Tony felt like he'd heard this spiel a million times, but for some odd reason, it hit home. Shoot he'd just told Pepper how much she meant to him, how much he loved her. How could he have just forgotten his own daughter? He felt like all the hours of missed sleep were catching up to him and he felt fatigued, suddenly. He looked around disgustedly.

He looked to Pepper and he had a feeling she could see how he was feeling in this moment. He put his head on her shoulder and hugged her, "I'm so sorry." He said softly.

"Go tell Sadie that. She needs you, Tony." Pepper said, "And I'm not letting you sleep with me until you do."

He chuckled and sighed.

"Clean up and I'll see you upstairs in one minute, no later." Pepper instructed.

He obliged.

…

Pepper placed dinner in front of Sadie and made a place for Tony. Sadie thought that maybe she was going to sit there, but she suddenly left, "I'm taking a shower." She said.

Sadie stared after her and looked over to see her dad sitting at the table, digging into his food.

Sadie didn't know if she'd stepped into the twilight zone or if this was actually happening.

"So…what's up?" her dad asked, swallowing his food.

Sadie narrowed her eyes and pushed her plate away. She was about to get up and leave when he stopped her. He put his hand on her chair to hold her there, "Wait."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I've been a jerk lately and you need to hear this."

That got Sadie's attention; she crossed her arms and sat back.

He sighed and looked her in the eyes and suddenly felt like such an idiot. Her eyes, his eyes stared right back at him, but they looked so hurt and angry.

"I am so sorry, Sadie." He said.

Sadie stared at him, her face unmoving. Sure he could be sorry, but she didn't know yet if this was quite as genuine as she needed it to be.

He continued, "I've been…" he sighed, "Okay, I've been a dumb ass." He said, "But above all I've been a real shitty dad to you. I never should have let my suits come between you and me and Pepper."

Sadie kept the tears in her eyes, not wanting to cry. She quickly choked out, "Why?"

He shrugged, "It's pretty hard to explain, kiddo." He admitted.

"So is Thor, but if I can describe him then you can tell me why you won't look at me and why you forgot my ballet recital and why you don't let me come see your work and why you don't even say good night and why you won't help me when I have a nightmare and-"

"Okay, okay!" he stopped her, "I get it; I'm the worst father in the world."

"No you're not; you're just not being a good one." Sadie said, wiping her eyes. She used to be able to cry in front of her dad and now she couldn't.

He stopped her from wiping her eyes, taking her hands and squeezing them tight, "It's me, you can cry, Sade's."

She broke down and he came over and picked her up. He realized she was getting pretty heavy now and sat down with her, rocking her and rubbing her back like he used to.

Why did he ever stop doing this? He always felt so safe and invincible when he held Sadie. He felt better than Iron Man when he held her. He was her dad, he protected her. Why, why did he ever let her go?

"I'm sorry, baby." He whispered, trying not to cry himself, trying to be strong, "I don't know why I'm acting like this. Maybe I'm ashamed because your dad is becoming this shell of a person who's afraid to think about New York and Libya. Who's ashamed because he let those bastards hurt you." He didn't realize his heart beat racing until he began sweating and crying himself. He wiped his face, breathing hard.

"Daddy?" Sadie sobbed, looking up at him, "Daddy?" she asked again.

He pushed her off of him and got up to run to the sink. She followed him, "What's wrong?" she cried.

"I'm fine…" he panted, "Just…hold that thought…"

She came closer to him and watched as her dad began having an anxiety attack. She recognized these. Her mom, Anna, would get them, but she never knew why. She only knew that whenever her dad, Tim, got a belt out she'd begin to panic.

She tried remembering what Tim had done for her mom. She walked closer to her dad and put a hand on his back carefully, pushing him so he'd face her.

He turned at her hand, but didn't realize it until she wrapped her arms around his torso, burying her head into his chest, "One…two…three…four…five." She counted slowly, "Count with me Daddy."

His hands still on the counter he finally looked down at those soulful brown eyes he'd come to love so much and wrapped his arms around her, getting down on his knees, still breathing hard.

"One…" Sadie counted.

"Two." He choked out, "Three…four…five."

"Take a breath in." she instructed, "Now let it out."

He smiled at her, wiping his face, "When did you get so good at this?"

She smiled, "A magician never reveals her secrets."

He rolled his eyes and hugged her close, burying his head into her hair and smelling her crazy strawberry shampoo that she loved. He kissed her forehead quickly and looked once more at her, "Can you forgive me?" he asked.

She smiled finally feeling like she was getting her old dad back, "You bought me a manatee." She said, raising her eyebrows, "Duh!"

He laughed and held her once more, kissing her cheek.

The doorbell rang and Sadie smiled, "Polly's here."

"Okay, I'll let you girls have fun." He smiled.

"Actually, Tony." Pepper said, coming in, looking showered and refreshed, "I have some paperwork to do tonight, so I need you to watch the girls."

He froze, "Say what?"

"Relax, I'm sure they'll just want to play 'Just Dance Wii' and have makeovers." Pepper smirked, smiling proudly at him all the same.

"But-" he started, and then looked down at Sadie, who was finally looking at him like he was the greatest person in the world.

He looked back up at Pepper who added, "And if you make sure they get to bed, come on up to bed yourself and maybe we'll 'talk' a little." She winked.

He raised his eyebrows and smiled down at Sadie.

"Daddy, please." She asked.

He could not say no to his little girl anymore. She was his world and he wasn't about to lose her again. He sighed and nodded, "Okay, but no makeovers!" he said.

Sadie smiled, running to the door.

Pepper hugged Tony and gave him a deep kiss, "I'm so proud of you Tony."

He shrugged, "Hey, it's what I do, I'm Iron Man."

"You are more than that." She said. Somehow he failed to see it but one day he would, "Now, be good and I'll make sure you're rewarded at bed time." She smiled, then walked away, "Have fun!"

…..

**YIPEE! First chapter is done! So excited. Don't forget to review and tell me what ya think. I promise more to come soon. Keep in mind I'm in the middle of like five stories and I write during the free time I actually have now lol. **

**Oh and quick info: Mr. Sunshine was an actual substitute I had in high school…and he was not a very happy person. And the popping sounds the kids made is a true story my sister told me when she was in school that she and her friends did to harass their teacher during exams. Had to write about it. **

**See you soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

Polly and Sadie stood outside with their arms crossed, staring at the gigantic bunny overpowering the driveway.

"That's a big bunny." Polly commented, staring at the thing.

Sadie nodded, "That it is."

"So what do we do?" Polly asked.

Sadie smiled, "Dad said that if we help him get it inside he'll play tea party with us."

"Why would he want that thing inside?" Polly laughed.

Sadie shrugged, "I think it's to prove a point to Pepper, but honestly, I could care less."

"Speaking of…" Polly said, "I thought you weren't speaking to your dad?"

"I wasn't, but something happened tonight." Sadie smiled, "He told me the truth and held me again. It was really awesome."

Polly smiled and nodded, "That's good, cause I was gonna help you egg bomb his workshop tonight if he hadn't."

Sadie laughed, "We still could."

"Okay." Polly smiled, rubbing her hands together, "Let's push it down."

Both she and Polly giggled shoving themselves into the soft rabbit. They would jump as high into the thing and slide down.

Neither had made any progress, but were laughing their heads off all the same.

"Stand aside, ladies!" Tony said, his gauntlets on.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Sadie asked nervously, "Mom said if you wreck the house she's gonna kill you."

"Relax, these things are stronger than steel, I'll pull, you girls push." He explained.

Sadie and Polly shrugged and watched as he called his boots to his body and then jumped into the air, catching the ears and pulling them down.

"Okay, that was cool." Polly admitted.

"Yeah, he's working on this new suit that brings parts of it to his body when he thinks about it." Sadie explained, watching her dad tug the rabbit, grunting.

"A little help now!" he grunted, "Yeah that thing is heavy."

Both girls got on the other side and helped him push the thing through the door. At one point it was just Tony tugging as the girls stopped pushing. They instead climbed on the thing and bounced on it, squealing with laughter.

"That's not helping!" Tony grunted.

"I didn't buy it!" Sadie laughed.

He finally paused and they slid off the bunny. He used his iron man suit to prop it up against the wall and then he collapsed on the couch. Both girls ran over to him and Sadie bounced onto his chest, "Okay, Daddy, you promised!"

He groaned.

…

Tony had officially been reduced to sitting at the table with stuffed animals, two little girls, and a fake tea party play set. Polly was helping Sadie with her Easy Bake oven.

Tony stared at the strange array of stuffed animals and raised his eyebrows. His lack of sleep might be starting to get to him because he could have sworn the animals were staring at him.

"Mr. Sunshine was such a douche bag." Polly gossiped as they both frosted the little cake they'd made.

"Which one is Mr. Sunshine?" Tony asked, glaring at the animals, "Do I need to kick out a bear?"

"Mr. Sunshine was our substitute teacher." Sadie explained.

Tony actually looked up, "No, your teacher is Mrs. Wile, I thought." He said.

Polly stared at Sadie.

"That was third grade, Dad. Our new teacher is Mrs. Hopewell." Sadie explained patiently, "But she's on maternity leave."

"So we had to have Mr. Sunshine teach us." Polly finished.

"Only he wasn't a very happy person." Sadie said.

"No wonder." Tony mumbled, looking into his empty teacup.

Sadie placed a piece of frosted cake onto his plastic plate and then served herself and Polly.

"Did you hear?" Polly whispered excitedly, "Heather's been seeing a fifth grader."

Sadie gasped, "Who?"

"Keith Jorgensen." Polly said.

"Eww!" Sadie gagged, "He's such a gross jerk."

"I know, but Heather likes him."

"What's this about boys?" Tony suddenly asked, pausing at poking his cake.

"Relax Daddy, I don't have any boyfriends." Sadie laughed.

"Good, cause you know I won't stand for that nonsense." Tony muttered, continuing to see if his cake was actually edible.

"Dad you're letting Mom live with us." Sadie crossed her arms, "Isn't she just your girlfriend?"

"True." Tony said, as he sniffed his cake, "But she's also your mom."

Sadie rolled her eyes and then sat down with Polly. Both ate their cake and then both looked at Tony to see if he'd eat it.

He didn't have the heart to say no. He shoveled it quickly into his mouth and smiled, "Mmmm." He said, giving them a thumbs up.

They seemed happy with that and Tony didn't have the heart to tell them he was not a cake fan. He wanted so badly to spit it out, but swallowed it instead, trying not to gag.

"So what movie are we watching tonight?" Polly asked.

"_Rise of the Guardians_." Sadie told her.

"I love that movie!" Polly smiled, "But I won't get it until Christmas!"

"We've been getting early gifts lately." Sadie laughed, "Daddy got me a manatee."

Polly dropped her fork, "No way!"

Sadie smiled proudly and Tony felt his chest lift a little.

"What's its name?" Polly asked, "When do you get to see it?"

"I'll see it next week." Sadie said, "And I'm naming him Charlie."

"Aww." Polly smiled, "You're so lucky, all we get is a horse."

"Horses are cool too!" Sadie said.

Polly shrugged and smiled a little, "They are, and mine is Hershey, she's a champion in the making."

"At least you get to show yours and ride it." Sadie admitted.

Tony started wondering if he should have gotten her a pony instead.

Polly smiled, "True."

Both girls continued to gossip about school and Tony only half listened. Though in truth he was bored to tears, he couldn't help but enjoy finally catching up with Sadie and playing with her and Polly.

"Wanna play Dance Wii?" Sadie asked.

"Yeah!" Polly said getting up.

Tony groaned, "One dance for me, then it's movie time and then bed." He instructed.

Both girls agreed.

Tony wished he hadn't bothered playing. While Polly and Sadie were kicking his butt at _Call Me Maybe_, he was proving himself a huge failure when he attempted _Moves Like Jagger_.

But the girls were laughing and enjoying themselves as he completely made a fool of himself in front of them. By the time he was finished, he was relieved to finally pop the movie in and watch with the girls. He had Dummy make them popcorn and then sat with them to watch the movie. He actually enjoyed it, but his lack of sleep was starting to make him sleepy.

Both girls yawned when the movie was over and he made sure both got to bed and finally joined Pepper upstairs.

She was going over paperwork and smiled when he came in, "Did you have fun?" she asked excitedly.

He nodded, "Successful night." He collapsed onto the bed and Pepper laughed.

"Do me a big favor, Pep?" he asked.

She rubbed his hair and smiled.

"Don't ever let me forget about my daughter ever again."

"You know I won't let you." She said.

He crawled up to her and kissed her. She kissed him back and dropped her things on the floor, making room for him.

He got on top of her and continued making out with her.

_Yeah, _he thought to himself, _I'm not letting go of this feeling ever again._

…_._

Sadie and Polly had crashed on the couch with pillows and blankets. Sadie was having very good dreams for once, so happy that she had her dad back.

She was woken up when she heard a strange noise. It sounded like stomping, like her dad was walking around in his iron suit.

She rubbed her eyes and looked around. She jumped when saw his iron man suit walking upstairs quickly. Sadie got nervous and followed it. She was wondering what it was doing when she saw it going towards her parents in their room. She stopped at the door and looked inside. Pepper was shaking her dad awake. Sadie wondered if Pepper was telling her dad the suit was in the room. Only that's not what happened.

The suit suddenly grabbed Pepper and flipped her away from her dad. Sadie gasped and saw its gauntlet raise, ready to hurt Pepper.

"MOMMY!" Sadie screamed, waking her dad up. He jumped and yelled at it to stop and then broke it to pieces.

Pepper shot up as Polly came running upstairs, "What happened?" Polly yelled, looking scared.

Pepper ran to the girls and hugged Sadie and clutched Polly to her chest as well, "You girls okay?" she asked. Sadie was in shock but Polly nodded her head.

Pepper glared at Tony.

"I'm so sorry, that…wasn't supposed to happen. I must have called it in my sleep." He panted, sweating and shaking.

"I could have been hurt, Sadie and Polly could have been hurt. I'm sleeping downstairs with them while you _tinker _with that." Pepper growled at him, grabbing the girls' hands and leading them downstairs, "It's okay girls." She told them, "We'll put in a movie and stay together tonight."

Sadie looked back at her dad as he stared at the mess on the floor. She didn't think she'd ever seen her dad look more…vulnerable. She wanted to tell her mom that he was sorry and that he needed them, but a part of her was still angry with him too. He let this happen, he was letting all this happen. And for what?

…

Everything seemed to go back to normal the next day, once Polly left. Her family was leaving to visit their family in New York for Christmas and Sadie was sad to see her leave, but she was just grateful she got to see her friend before she left.

She walked back to her room and decided to do some homework. She walked in and saw Kala on her bed, sleeping.

Sadie sat on the bed and pet her snoring dog. Kala woke up and smiled weakly at her and put her head in Sadie's lap, content to just lay there for a minute. Sadie pet her gently and kissed her head, "Don't worry girl, no manatee is gonna replace you." She giggled. Kala closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep. Sadie smiled and grabbed her books and sat at her desk. She began working when she suddenly looked up. She looked behind her at the bed at Kala.

Kala was sleeping…but she wasn't snoring. She got up and walked over to the bed, certain that it was just nothing.

She put her hand on Kala. Only Kala felt cold.

"Are you cold, girl?" Sadie asked, grabbing one of her blankets.

Kala didn't wake up.

Sadie shook her gently, but nothing happened. She put her head to Kala's chest and sobbed. Kala wasn't breathing. She had no heartbeat.

Sadie stared at her beloved dog and sobbed, shaking her, "Kala?" she cried, "Wake up!"

She began panicking and ran around the room, as though looking for an answer.

She found the door and ran out, "MOM! DAD!" she cried, yelling for them, "Somebody help me!" she called.

"Sadie?" Pepper called, running down the stairs, "Sadie, what's wrong?" Pepper yelled, rushing to her, "Are you okay?"

"Kala!" Sadie sobbed, grabbing her mom's hand and pulling her to her room.

Pepper came in and put her hand to her mouth, walking to the bed.

"She won't wake up." Sadie cried.

Pepper started crying and then took a breath, putting her hand on Kala's chest. She bit her lip and looked sadly at Sadie, "Oh Sadie…I'm so sorry."

"Why won't she wake up?!" Sadie cried.

Pepper grabbed Sadie to her chest, "Sweetie, she passed away."

"No!" Sadie sobbed. Not Kala, Kala was invincible. Kala could do anything.

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm so sorry." Pepper cried, kissing Sadie's head and looking sadly at Kala, "Jarvis, have Tony come up here now." She said.

She swore if he took more than five minutes to get up here she would kill him.

She was relieved when he ran into Sadie's room within two minutes. He came over to them, "What's wrong? What happened?" he asked, looking from her to Pepper.

Pepper caught his gaze and motioned to Kala on the bed.

Tony looked up and realized what was going on. He went over to Kala and bent down, putting his hand on her chest, "Oh man…" he sighed. Pepper didn't fail to see the tears forming in his eyes. Kala may have been Sadie's dog, but Tony had loved her just as much.

He sniffed quickly and found a blanket to cover her in.

"NO!" Sadie yelled at him, grabbing the blanket, "You can fix her!" she cried.

He sighed and looked sadly at Sadie, "Sade's, you and I both know that I can't. I would in a heartbeat if I could…but she's gone."

"No she's not!" Sadie sobbed, shoving him away from her dog.

Pepper cried harder and Tony took Sadie from her for a minute, sitting on the bed, "Kiddo, dogs die. It happens."

"Kala is not just a dog!" Sadie sobbed, wiping her face.

"You're right, she was also a SHIELD agent and a great service animal." Pepper agreed, "But Tony's right Sadie, Kala was old, she'd had a good life. And she died happy with you in here."

"I don't want her to die." Sadie cried.

Tony was at a loss for words as his anxiety came back. Sadie's crying was so like the way she sobbed as he flew into that wormhole with the missile, saying goodbye to his little girl. He breathed harder and Pepper took Sadie from him as he got up.

"Daddy, don't leave!" Sadie cried.

He left the room to find the sink again.

"Sadie, it's okay." Pepper cooed, "We'll be okay."

Tony ran to his shop and took a breath. He tried counting and getting Sadie's sobbing out of his head. He finally pulled himself together and found a shovel. He couldn't just sit there and do nothing.

He came back upstairs and his heart sank; Sadie was wrapping Kala in a blanket and saying her goodbyes.

"You were the best dog I've ever had." Sadie cried.

Pepper patted the dog's head and let Sadie cover it up.

Tony came in and collected the dog and then took her outside. Sure his robots or his suits could do it, but this dog was a hero in so many ways, and she deserved better.

Every time he dug deeper in his yard, his tears poured out more and more. He was relieved to finally place her gently into the ground and bury her.

He saluted her, "You were a good dog." He admitted and then walked away feeling worse with every step.

…

He didn't know if he even wanted to build anything that night. He just wanted to sit here with Pepper and Sadie, not thinking. The house felt emptier somehow.

He jumped when he heard a knock at the door. He looked at Sadie who had fallen asleep on Pepper's lap.

Tony rubbed his eyes and got up to answer the door. He was stunned when Natasha stood there, smiling sadly, "May I come in Mr. Stark?" she asked.

He nodded and stepped aside.

"Is Sadie awake?" she asked.

He led her to the couch and Pepper shook Sadie awake. Sadie sat up and looked sadly at Natasha who carried something over to her. She got down on her knee and gave a small box to her, "Sadie, Director Fury wanted me to give this to you. It's Kala's retirement badge that she was awarded after saving many SHIELD agents in action. She was a great dog and a hero."

Sadie teared up and took the box. She opened it and saw a medal of service with the SHIELD logo on it. It had Kala's name on it.

"How did you know?" Pepper asked.

Natasha smiled, "We never forget a fellow agent." She turned to Tony, "I can't stay, but I asked to deliver this to Sadie."

Tony nodded and smiled at her.

Natasha stood up and hugged Sadie before she left.

Sadie held the box and stared at the badge for the longest time. Her dog was a hero, in more ways than one. She knew that the minute Kala walked her outside and kept her out of harm's way or alerted her dad when she was sick. Kala like many dogs in the world had died, but she was not forgotten.

_**I'm dedicating this chapter to every service animal who has ever made a difference in someone's life: therapy animals, service animals, military animals, and the animals that never gave up on us. They are waiting for us over the Rainbow Bridge to be held by us once more. **_

_**RIP Tucker, Pawsy, Abby, Trixie, and Lil. I love you all so much and I miss you every day. **_


	3. Chapter 3

Sadie sat on her bed holding Kala's collar. She rubbed the worn leather between her fingers and tried imagining Kala was still here with her. She was so lost in thought remembering all of her adventures and memories with Kala that she didn't hear her dad come in.

He sat down on the bed next to her but she ignored him.

"You wanna come see something?" he asked her softly.

She shook her head.

"Why not?" he asked, astounded that for once he was letting her see what he was doing and she wanted nothing to do with it, "You just wanna sit here and mope?" he asked, laughing a little.

She glared at him and then looked back at the collar.

"Hey, come on, cheer up." He said, hoping to get her mind off of Kala, "I miss her too, but that doesn't mean we just sit here and do nothing." He said, trying to take her hand from the collar.

She stood up quickly and pushed his hand away roughly, "Fuck off." She said angrily.

Tony was shocked, and couldn't stop himself. He narrowed his eyes and his hand lifted up and he smacked her across the face. He didn't do it to hurt her; he just didn't like hearing his own daughter act worse than him.

She gasped and clutched her cheek, dropping the collar and staring at him in shock.

He grasped her shoulders and shook her carefully, "That was not okay." He said, "Don't you ever, EVER say that to me or Pepper ever again Sadie, do you understand me?"

Her bottom lip trembled and she looked down at a loss for words. He saw her nod and he pulled her in and hugged her. She hugged him back, "I'm sorry, Daddy." She whispered.

"I know you are." He said, "I may be a jerk but that is one thing you are _not _becoming." He insisted, sighing as he held her. He had to take blame for her foul language. Half the time she saw him he was in his workshop cursing and tinkering, ignoring her all the same.

He finally looked her in the eye and got her attention. She seemed to be snapping out of her moping stage.

"Let's put this thing down, okay? I wanna show you something." He told her again.

She looked one last time at Kala's collar and then put it on the nightstand where her medal sat.

He took her hand and walked her downstairs. She didn't like being here anymore because it didn't look the same. He'd destroyed it ages ago and remodeled so it just felt different, about as different as he was becoming.

He took her to a desk and sat her on the table like he used to do. She looked around the cold room that didn't seem in any way familiar to her.

He sat down in a chair and faced her, looking serious, "I'm gonna tell you what I've been working on down here."

She was stunned. She'd been asking for ages and he always told her to go away. Why was he telling her now?

"I want you to know because you're as smart as I am and I want you to be part of it." He said. He was looking worried and Sadie had to feel nervous.

He finally pulled out his arm and Sadie gasped at all the needle marks.

"Daddy! What did you do?" she cried.

"It's called Nano-tech." he explained, getting up, "I installed it inside myself. It's a way to call the suit to me when I need it, without using heavy technology. I can control when I need it and when I don't."

"What do you want me to do?" Sadie asked suddenly.

He looked at her a little nervously and then sighed, getting in front of her and leaning on the desk. He looked her in the eyes, "I want to install Nano-tech inside of you too." He explained.

Sadie was shocked. She shook her head quickly, "No, Daddy. I'm not doing that." She said.

"It's perfectly safe and practically harmless." He told her.

"I don't want it, Daddy. I didn't want this thing," she said, pointing to her chest piece, "and I don't want a suit!"

"It's not about wanting, Sade's." He said, "I don't want to give this to you, I need to give it to you."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because of Libya." He explained, "Because of Harrow and the Mandarin and the Ten Rings, New York, all of it."

Sadie still shook her head.

"Sadie, SHIELD can't always be there, and if something happens to me, I can't just leave you out in the open exposed. I want to know you are safe and have something to protect you."

Sadie thought about it but was very scared. She stared at his ear where he'd installed the Nano-tech and then at his arms with the strange holes. She trembled slightly, still shaking her head.

"I promise this won't hurt you." He told her, "And it only works if I or you call it to your body."

"D-daddy…" she swallowed, "Is something bad gonna happen?" she asked.

He looked her in the eyes and shrugged, "I honestly don't know, and that's what I don't like."

She looked around at all the suits and then took a breath. He was right. She was only nine-years-old. The only thing saving her was her chest piece and even that could get broken and kill her. Her dog was dead, her mom was only human, and SHIELD couldn't always be around to keep her safe. She looked to her dad, her hero, and realized that even he could get hurt or die at any time. It scared her, that realization, but she was smart enough to know that it was a possibility.

She finally nodded against her will and looked at her dad. He smiled grimly but nodded back.

"When do I get it?" she asked.

"Right now." He answered.

…..

"Almost done." Tony said, cringing at Sadie's response to the injections.

She would flinch and cry out every time. By the time he was halfway done she was sweating and looking sick.

Thank God there were only a few more injections to go. He decided to save the head piece for a little later. He'd program it while he injected her.

He did the last few injections and Sadie nearly collapsed. He caught her in time and had her drink some fluids.

"You still with me, Sade's?" he asked.

She nodded weakly, "Is it too late to change my mind?" she asked, drinking some water.

He chuckled and finally worked on the easy part of getting her head set installed and programmed. He would tinker with it tonight to make sure it connected to him as well. Sadie may not be used to it so he had to make sure he could access it in case to protect her until she could do it herself.

"Does Mom know that you were gonna do this for me?" Sadie asked him when he'd finished installing it.

She saw him cringe a little and nearly dropped her water. Her mouth fell open, "YOU DIDN'T TELL MOM?!"

"Tell me what?" Pepper asked, coming in wearing her usual suit. She walked in and smiled at them, glad to see they were doing something together again like they used to.

"Tell me what?" Pepper asked again, suddenly getting nervous.

Sadie looked from her mom to her dad.

Tony merely shrugged and said, "Just working on a suit." He said.

Sadie looked down guiltily, afraid to tell her mom what her dad had just done to her.

Pepper raised her eyebrows and walked over to them.

She came closer and then looked around.

Sadie braced for it and sure enough, she heard her gasp when she saw the rag with some blood stains on it next to the injection gun.

"Tony?! What happened?" she yelled.

Tony sighed and then turned to her, "Please don't hate me for what I'm about to say, babe-"

"This had better be good." Pepper fumed, advancing on him.

"Please know that I love you and I love Sadie and what I did is for her." He continued.

Pepper crossed her arms and glared daggers at him. Sadie wondered if she could sneak out, but was standing right in between them.

"Pepper, remember that she is my daughter, my biological daughter, and that I have first say in what I feel is best for her."

Pepper's face turned red and she gritted her teeth, "What did you DO?!"

Tony sighed and rubbed his face, "I injected her with Nano-technology for her suit."

Pepper was silently glaring at Tony as his news sunk in.

Pepper finally looked down at Sadie and then saw her arms and the head piece she was wearing.

Pepper looked up and yelled, "NO! NO suit. She is a CHILD!" she roared.

Sadie felt like she was shrinking before everyone in the room.

"Exactly why she needs one, Pep, she is in danger-"

Pepper got closer to him and yelled in his face, "You put our daughter at risk, and yes I do say 'ours' because that's what she is. I love her just as much as you do and it is not fair for you to assume she's just yours!"

"I'm sorry, but she's technically mine and I did ask her and she agreed." Tony said.

"God, I can't believe you would do that!" Pepper yelled, "Just because she has an arc reactor in her chest does not mean she can be your little sidekick out on the battlefield!"

"That's not what she is, this is to protect her!"

Sadie felt tears stinging her eyes and she couldn't find the courage to look up at anyone.

She stood there, shaking, getting more upset by every passing yell each parent made to the other one.

She seemed lost in thought for a moment, trying to get away in her own head, her anger building. She clenched her fists and didn't realize what her anger was doing when suddenly she screamed and something across the room came whizzing past them.

"SHUT UP!" she screamed angrily. Tony looked around and noticed some of Sadie's armor was already responding to her anger. It was lighting up and moving slightly but not coming at her.

Pepper's hand shot to her mouth and she stared from Sadie to Tony.

"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!" Sadie yelled, her hands going to her ears, "I HATE YOU!"

She pushed them out of the way and ran upstairs. Her mind was racing and she seethed in anger. They were worse than Tim and Anna arguing about hospital bills in front of her.

She got to her room and slammed the door loudly and locked it.

She stopped for a moment and took a deep breath, holding her chest. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, holding her chest and focusing on her breathing. She began to feel a floating sensation and knew she was beginning to calm down. She opened her eyes and looked around her room at all her pictures and butterflies.

She found her bed and collapsed onto it, finally just sinking into the covers and falling asleep.

…

Tony would have laughed had his daughter not been so upset, but did she honestly think he couldn't unlock her door? He came in; glad to see she was asleep. He picked her up and tucked her into bed and stayed with her for a while, just rubbing her hair like he used to. Pepper had given him the couch for the night so he decided to just stay with Sadie for a while.

He and Pepper had luckily hashed it out, but she was definitely angry with him. Luckily not so angry that she would leave, but enough for him to realize he wasn't being fair in making choices involving Sadie without her. She was her appointed guardian after all.

Tony sighed and lay down next to Sadie, pulling her close. He missed her cute little laugh and her expressions when he got her dander up. He missed having her sit in his lap at the computers, helping him with a program and fixing his little equations. But most of all, he missed sleeping next to her and waking up with her head in his armpit. He always thought it was the most amazing feeling in the world, and here he was, resorting to a night on a child-sized bed just to get that feeling again.

He wanted to sleep, but every time he did, he had nightmares. He got scared and didn't want to face that feeling. It bothered him, because he was always so able to handle whatever came his way. He was able to throw himself into his work and overcome any challenge, but lately, that work was tearing him away from the people he loved the most.

Sadie moaned in her sleep and turned into him; he smiled as she found his arm and burrowed her head under his armpit. He put his arm around her to give her easy access and closed his eyes, content to just lie there with her this way.

Little did he know that Sadie was awake and happier than any other girl in the world to be able to spend the night with her dad again. She hugged his waist and clutched him close; hoping that by doing so would keep him connected to her so he would be safe.

…

Sadie was eating lunch with her mom, hoping that everything that had occurred the day before was gone from their minds. Obviously Pepper was annoyed, but still loved Sadie and seemed to take it well. She was instead asking Sadie what she really wanted for Christmas this year and Sadie was fine with that. Sadie had no clue what she wanted for Christmas. For God's sake, she had a manatee.

What Sadie didn't know was that Pepper was attempting to hide from her the fact that Happy was in the hospital, comatose. Sadie would have been devastated to find this out and Pepper was determined to keep it quiet. She let Tony visit the hospital and do what he needed to do to cope, but Pepper kept an eye on Sadie. This was the last thing she needed after Kala.

Sadie had no clue about what had happened and even though she was curious as to why her father left so suddenly that morning and seemed distant, she let it go, knowing that these days; he was so up and down that they never knew what would happen. But after last night, she understood that he was still her father and would come back to her in his own time.

"Got any ideas for Christmas?" Pepper asked, looking distracted but happy, none-the-less.

Sadie shrugged, "Maybe a new calculator." She said.

"What about some nail polish?" Pepper suggested.

Sadie smiled. Pepper was always getting her nail polish so they could do their nails together. It was one way that kept them close and talking. Another reason why Pepper was super protective of Sadie, because having their girl time was the one way she could communicate with her and find out more about Sadie.

"Miss Potts, you may wish to turn on the local news." Jarvis said loudly, making Sadie jump.

Pepper groaned suddenly, "What now?"

The news came on and she and Sadie watched in horror as her dad blurted out his home address for the whole world to hear.

Pepper put a hand to her mouth and choked on her food.

Sadie couldn't take her eyes away from how angry her father looked. He was talking to the Mandarin…THE Mandarin and giving him their home address!

"Sadie, get to your room and pack some bags, NOW!" Pepper said, her head in her hands.

Sadie didn't need to be told twice. She ran up and did just that. She packed some clothes and anything else that was important to her, such as old photos, Kala's collar, and her stuffed bears.

She brought out her bags and waited for Pepper on the couch. Her dad's suit came up suddenly, causing her to jump. She rolled her eyes at the thing.

"Hey!" it said suddenly and she glanced up in alarm. The helmet went up and sure enough her dad was in the thing.

Sadie rolled her eyes again, lying back on the couch.

They heard the doorbell and Sadie straightened, getting frightened.

"Stay here." He told her, "I won't let anybody hurt you." He promised.

Sadie was about to tell him off for giving their home address to the media but he walked away before she could.

Her dad answered the door and Sadie was surprised to see some lady come in. She ran upstairs to find her mom, hoping to God they were leaving soon.

She found Pepper carrying a couple of bags and throwing them down, "Sadie," Pepper said, breathlessly, wiping her hair from her eyes, "Please be a sweetheart and take the bags out to the car."

"Sure Mom." Sadie said, happy to obey. She did not want to mess with her mom when she was ready to shoot fireballs out of her eyes.

Sadie ran down and collected the bags and began dragging them out the door.

"Where are you going with all that?" Her dad asked, finally out of his suit. The lady stared at her as she walked by.

Sadie ignored them and continued with the dragging. She didn't care about putting them in the car, it was locked anyways. But she did throw them at the car in anger. It felt pretty good to let out some steam.

She shrieked when she saw all the helicopters flying around her house.

She groaned and went back inside.

The lady looked at her and Sadie continued to ignore her. She could care less about manners at the moment, she was ready to go.

"Thank you Sadie, hon." Pepper said.

"Hey, kiddo, you wanna bring those bags back in?" Tony asked her.

"Who are you?" Sadie finally asked the lady.

"Old friend." Tony answered quickly, "Maya Hansen, my daughter Sadie, Sadie, Maya."

Sadie knew what that meant. She wasn't a dummy. She looked Maya up and down and glared at her.

Sadie rolled her eyes once more and walked back to the couch, but something stopped her. She looked out the window and froze, "Daddy…" she moaned.

Everyone looked out the window as helicopters racing towards their house opened fire on them.

"Sadie! Get down!" Tony yelled, running to her.

Everyone was thrown back from the explosion.

Sadie's ears were ringing and she couldn't see anything. But something strange happened to her and she opened her eyes in time to see a piece of armor attach to her leg. And before she knew it, her entire body was covered; head to toe in iron armor. She grunted as she hit the wall, that for sure would have killed her from the impact. She fell onto her stomach and coughed inside the armor. It lit up and she gasped, realizing she was actually wearing a suit!

"Dad?! Mom?!" she called, looking around, confused by all the weird holograms. She held her arms out and looked at her gold and red armor, fitted perfectly to her. The house was shaking and debris was falling.

She looked around again and was happy to see both her parents alive and okay. Pepper was wearing a suit as well. Sadie almost screamed at her why she would get angry for her having a suit when she was wearing one, but the situation called for more immediate action at the moment.

She ran over, not sure how to work the thing.

"Sadie!" Pepper said and Sadie could hear her from inside her suit.

"Mom?!" Sadie gasped, "Is Dad okay?"

"I'm fine, Sade's, you and your mom get out of here, now!" he yelled.

She was slipping from all the debris and was walking when the floor gave way. Her dad caught her in time and pulled her back. He yelled for Pepper to go while he and Sadie found a way out.

"How do I work this thing?" Sadie asked.

"Sade's do you see a helicopter?" he asked her, coughing and avoiding all the debris.

She looked out and nodded, finding one.

"Aim your hand at it and fire!" he instructed, holding her steady.

"How?" she asked.

"Think it!" he told her.

She raised her hand and aimed, hoping to get it right. She was just thinking what on earth she was doing when she yelled inside her head, "FIRE!" and sure enough, hit one of the propellers on the helicopter, causing it to crash into another one.

"Good, good!" he yelled, then pushed her out of the way when more debris fell.

"Sir, Miss Potts has evacuated the area." Jarvis said.

It was Tony's turn. He called for his armor and Sadie watched as it came to him.

"Sadie, get out of here, just fly out, you can do it!" he yelled to her through the suits.

Sadie closed her eyes and thought about it and was actually lifting up when a rock hit her and she suddenly felt like she was falling. She looked down and realized both she and her dad were falling into the water off the cliff.

He saw her and reached for her hand, holding onto a car, "Grab my hand, Sade's!" he yelled.

He wanted to toss her into the air to get her away from the falling house. She reached for his hand, struggling and afraid to let go of the railing she was holding onto.

"That's it, come on!" he yelled urgently, reaching for her.

She almost had it and he closed his eyes, willing her suit to come to his. She was boosted forward against her will and he pushed her away from the falling debris in time before he was taken under the water.

She fell into the ocean, but was away from the house. She watched in horror, floating in her suit as the house came down on top of her dad in the water. She waited for him to come back to the surface.

"Where's my dad?!" she cried.

Her suit suddenly felt pulled under and she was dragged against her will underneath the water. She knew what was happening. Her suit was attached to her dad and would track it.

She searched for him and saw his hand.

"Daddy!" she yelled, looking up. More debris was falling on top of them. She had literally seconds to get him out.

She found his hand and pulled. His gauntlet came off and she screamed, frustrated.

"Sir, take a deep breath." Jarvis said, "Miss Stark, help me pull him up."

Sadie did what Jarvis said and grabbed her dad's hand, pulling him out. He clutched her close and then both shot out of the water.

"Daddy?" Sadie called out.

Her dad wasn't answering.

"Daddy?!" she yelled, "Wake up! Daddy!"

"Miss, your father has fallen unconscious, please be patient as we reach our destination."

"Where are we going?" Sadie cried, trying to detach from her dad, but his arm was tight around her middle, carrying her with him.

"Tennessee." Jarvis answered her.

"Oh no…" Sadie groaned.

**You guys are amazing! I love you all! Oh and in answer to some questions: YES, I loved the movie and thought it was very well done. I hope you liked it too and hopefully by the time you read this chapter you've already seen the movie so you should watch it before you read this lol. Should have probably put a warning up first, whoops, lol. Next chapter is on the way, Sadie's gonna meet Harley!**


	4. Chapter 4

**The next two chapters are officially being dedicated to my biggest fan and best support: Neverland123, you rock my socks! Thanks for all the crazy ideas, the fan art, and for loving Sadie as much as I do. **

…**..**

Sadie worked all through the air trying to get her dad's arm off of her. She tried everything from commanding it to attempting to wake up her dad. He was completely unconscious and they'd been flying for hours now.

She was finally giving up when she heard him gasp inside his suit.

"DAD!" she yelled, "Finally! Let me go!" she yelled.  
He was sputtering and she had a feeling he was coming to. She suddenly felt the air change and moaned. They were falling.

"DAD! STOP!" she cried, struggling to get free.

"Sadie?" he yelled.

"Let me go!" she cried again, "Fly your suit!" she commanded.

"What happened?" he yelled.

"We're falling you dip stick!" she yelled.

"Whoa!" he yelled and pushed her away. She tried flying but was too close to the ground. She heard a honking sound and a crash from nearby, but couldn't see anything. She finally hit the ground and slid a few feet until she hit a tree roughly. A bunch of snow fell on top of her suit and she lay there for a minute. Glad to be free and on the ground, but disgruntled because she was underneath snow and separated from her dad.

She got up, groaning in pain and wiped the snow away. She took a look around and gasped. They'd landed in Tennessee alright, but they were in the middle of the woods somewhere, possibly nowhere near a town or city.

The only good thing about this situation was that she hadn't seen snow in a very long time. She'd forgotten how pretty it looked. Only she'd always been inside when she'd seen it and didn't anticipate the cold that would greet her. She got up and walked around, hoping to find her dad.

She called for him and trudged through the snow when she heard a beeping sound.

She looked over and was relieved to see her dad a few feet away. She ran to him, trying to figure out how to even work the suit. She got to him and was still in shock at how banged up the suit looked. She didn't want to know what her dad looked like from inside it.

The suit opened and he took off his mask.

"Dad?" she called to him, "Can you see me okay?" she asked.

"What are you wearing?" he asked, looking a little out of it.

She rolled her eyes and finally just yelled to no one in particular to take the damn suit off. It opened up for her and she walked out, nearly tripping. She gasped suddenly and rubbed her arms, "HOLY…" she breathed.

He sat up and shivered as well, "A little brisk." He commented.

Sadie had a mind to just get back in the suit when they both heard Jarvis glitching.

"Let's get back in the suits." Tony suggested, only Jarvis did not let him.

"Sir…I think I need to…sleep." Jarvis said, sounding tired.

"Jarvis?" Sadie said weakly, realizing that even the computer had had its fair share of action for the day.

He looked up at her and she crawled into his arms, trying to keep warm. Shoot all she wore was jeans and a t-shirt with tennis shoes. She had no jacket to cover herself up with and she was ready to just call it quits.

Tony shivered and held her, obviously attempting to keep them both warm, "Seriously how did you guys manage to survive in Connecticut?" he sputtered from the cold.

"We stayed inside." Sadie mumbled. He rubbed her arms and looked around hopelessly.

"Why are we here?" Sadie asked, wondering why on earth of all the places Jarvis could drop her dad, he chose here.

"Hopefully answers are here." Tony said, finally pushing himself to stand up. He looked at both of their suits and sighed.

"What answers?" Sadie asked suddenly.

"The Mandarin." He said quickly, "Now help me with this thing."

Sadie was freezing but did as he asked. They were able to close up their suits and put Sadie's on top of her dad's. He then found some rope and attached it to the big suit and then looked around.

"Where are we going?" Sadie asked, her teeth chattering.

"That way." Tony shrugged, "The faster we move the faster we'll find shelter. Move out." He ordered.

Sadie hugged herself and followed her dad.

They were both silent as they moved, obviously freezing.

Sadie's feet were getting soaked and she was starting to feel numb. She didn't even know if she could move her mouth to make herself talk.

She kept going but exhaustion was getting to her, and she wasn't even carrying the suits.

She finally just wanted nothing more than to sleep.

"Mmm…da-…" she mumbled.

Tony turned and he gasped, realizing that Sadie was literally going into hypothermia right in front of him.

He dropped the ropes and ran to her, picking her up and calling himself stupid for just neglecting her like that. Shit, why didn't she just sit on his suits?

He hugged her close and put her hands under his shirt to give them some body heat.

"Damnit!" he yelled, shivering again. He looked around and was relieved when he noticed a light up ahead. He prayed it was shelter.

Sadie's lips were blue and her face was turning a light purple color. Her eyes drooped and he had to slap her cheek very lightly to keep her awake, "Sade's!" he ordered softly, "I know it sucks but you can't fall asleep, hunny."

"Why?" she croaked, closing her eyes.

He slapped her cheek lightly again, "Cause you won't wake up."

"Don't…care." She mumbled and rested her head against his chest. He didn't know what else to do so he actually stuffed her head and body under his shirt and rubbed her back, hoping that the body heat would keep her alive even if she fell asleep.

He was relieved to feel her heart beat. But it was slow. He took her out and then used one arm to hold her and the other to keep dragging the suits. He was dead tired by the time he reached the source of the light. He was annoyed that all he found was a payphone and a closed shop. He looked over and saw a poncho on a wooden Indian. He didn't even care; he grabbed it and put it on over himself and Sadie. He crawled into the phone booth and sat down for a minute, hoping Sadie was holding up.

He hugged her underneath the poncho and rubbed her arms and back, hoping she would get back some of her body heat. He found her fingers and blew on them, hoping to get them warm again. Her heart was beating still and she was starting to breath. She began shivering off and on and he was relieved that she would make it…for now.

He put his head back on the glass of the phone booth and sat, wondering what to do.

He looked up at the phone and decided it was probably a good time to tell Pepper that they were both alive and okay. He just prayed she was.

He dialed his special number and decided it was time to leave her a message.

….

Tony didn't know how much longer he could balance Sadie and the ropes carrying the suit. He was freezing, Sadie was half dead, and his suit was destroyed. They were in the middle of nowhere with no way to get around and no way to contact anyone for help. He was practically beating himself up for it.

He almost gave up when he practically skipped for joy at seeing a house with a shed.

He dragged Sadie and the suits, kicking in the door. He shut the door and dropped the suits, quickly depositing Sadie on a couch. He took off the poncho and covered her with it while he attended to the suits. He finally got them where they needed to be and collapsed onto the sofa next to Sadie. He put a hand on her chest and breathed a sigh of relief that she was breathing again. Her body would shake off and on and he was glad that she would be all right. He just needed to get her warm again.

He looked around and saw a bathroom nearby. He picked her up and ran to it. He was so relieved to see a tub. He turned on the hot water and let it fill most of the tub before he turned on the cold water. He didn't want to cook her, just thaw her out.

He slipped off her clothes and then groaned when he felt how wet her shoes were. He took them off carefully and winced. Her feet were turning red and blistery. He was lucky they weren't black. He put a hand gently to her feet to feel how cold they were and then breathed on them gently, hoping to warm them up.

The tub was finally full and he was able to deposit her into the tub. He would have loved to have gone out to work on his suit, but Sadie wasn't exactly conscious at the moment.

He held her head above the water and let her body soak in the heat. She took a long breath finally and opened her eyes a smidge. She looked lazy and content as she looked up at him. She moaned and then fell back asleep.

He sighed and decided she'd had enough with the Jacuzzi. He took her out and wrapped her tightly in two towels he found. He brought her back out to the other room and turned on some lights. He held her and decided to just let her dry off in his lap while he worked. He'd wasted enough time keeping her from drowning; she might as well do without a bed.

He was just getting started when he heard the cocking of a gun. He closed his eyes, praying for patience when he turned and saw a young boy holding a plastic potato gun, pointed right at him.

"Seriously?" Tony muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Don't move." The boy threatened.

"A potato gun?" Tony muttered again.

The boy fired and hit a glass jar above his head. The shattering woke Sadie up and he was relieved for the moment but then annoyed because now he had this kid to deal with.

"Dad?" Sadie groaned, looking nervous.

"Who are you?" The boy asked, looking angry.

"Look kid, I like the attitude, but don't have the time for it, so I'm gonna need you to leave and-"

"Who. Are. You?" the boy repeated.

"Really, you're going to threaten me? Your gun's not even loaded now." Tony said.

Sadie looked over and the boy caught her eye, "What's wrong with her?" he asked, his body relaxing, "Are you two homeless?" he asked.

Tony put Sadie down carefully, still keeping her covered in the towels. She looked up suddenly and glared at her dad, "Where are my clothes?" she demanded.

"Wet and cold." Tony told her.

"What happened?" The boy said, coming over.

"I'll explain later kid-"

"Harley." The boy told him.

"Yeah, whatever, look, me and my daughter need some stuff, the first being food, like a sandwich, so if you don't mind-"

"Is that-?!" Harley suddenly yelled, excitedly, looking over at the couch. Sadie and Tony looked as well and saw the iron suits sitting up.

"Is that Iron Man?" Harley asked excitedly, walking over to the suits.

"No, I am." Tony said, offended.

Harley got on the couch and examined them, "What happened to him? And is this one for me?" he asked.

Sadie rolled her eyes and shivered, "You can have it."

Tony gave her a look and answered the kid, "That's my daughters, and as for what happened…"

"Shit happened." Sadie mumbled.

Tony rolled his eyes this time and answered, "I was going to say life."

Sadie gave him a look and bundled herself up again.

Harley was looking at the suits and Sadie watched as he suddenly broke off a finger.

Sadie laughed while her dad grew angry, "You broke his finger! Great now I need to…you know what, I don't even care, I'll fix it."

"Is that what you do? You fix things?" Harley asked him.

"Yeah." Tony said, picking up Sadie and sitting down again, putting her in his lap.

"Like a mechanic?" Harley asked again.

"Yeah, something like that." Tony said.

"Try fixing our broken family." Sadie growled at him, "Or maybe our freaking house."

"Hey, there's only so much I can do about a bunch of loaded helicopters." Tony defended.

"Oh and why were they there? That's right; you gave the world our home address!" Sadie told him angrily.

Harley was looking back and forth between the two, but still examining the Iron Man sitting on his couch.

Tony finally decided to change the subject and looked to Harley, "Where's your mom?" he asked.

"Usual shift at the diner." Harley answered.

"Dad?"

"Went out to get scratchers. I guess he won, cause that was seven years ago." Harley shrugged.

"That's nice." Tony said, distracted, "Tell you what, get my girl some clothes and get us a sandwich, I'm also gonna need some stuff for this suit. Make it snappy." He ordered.

"Don't mind him." Sadie told Harley, "He treats everybody this way."

"As cute as this conversation is…" Tony said, "One thing is still bothering me…where's my sandwich?"

"At least your dad actually cares about you." Harley told her, ignoring Tony, "He hasn't let you go yet." Harley commented.

"Yeah a trait I hope he doesn't carry when I'm a teenager." Sadie complained.

"What are you talking about; you love when I hold you." Tony mumbled, forgetting about Harley being in the room for a moment.

"That was until your suit attached itself to me and drove us out here to the middle of nowhere so I could almost die from the cold and where you could sit here with me butt naked in front of a boy my own age." Sadie said, glaring at him.

"I'm gonna go grab that sandwich now." Harley said, leaving.

…..

Sadie was glad to be dressed. Although Harley had let her borrow some of his clothes so they were a little big, but at least they were warm. He'd also gotten her a sandwich and even shared with her his secret stash of cookies he'd hidden. She was relieved and feeling better, but was still annoyed with her dad.

She and Harley watched as he worked a little on his suit.

"Are you really his daughter?" Harley asked her finally.

She nodded, sighing a little.

"You don't look so happy about that. I mean if that was my dad, I'd be pretty proud." Harley said.

Sadie looked sadly at him, "I was proud, but then he changed."

Harley looked as though he understood. It's hard when you think you know a person, only to realize they weren't who you thought they'd be.

"Not going to lie, I was expecting Iron Man to be more…"

"Sane?" Sadie suggested.

"Heroic." Harley said.

"My dad is a hero, but honestly, Captain America's got him beat." Sadie said, hoping her dad heard her.

"You know Captain America?" Harley gasped, "And Thor and-and-"

"All of them." Sadie said, smiling, "They're all heroes."

"Even your dad?" Harley asked.

Sadie looked down but then nodded, "Even my dad. He's stupid, but he's a hero nonetheless."

"What about you? What do you do?" Harley asked her.

"I like to build things too, but I don't wanna be like him." She admitted.

"What do you wanna do?" Harley asked.

"I wanna be a different kind of hero and be a doctor." Sadie said.

"That's pretty cool." Harley said, "I wanna be a mechanic when I grow up."

Sadie chuckled, "Maybe sometime I'll teach you how to make a phone."

Harley's smile widened.

"Okay, you two, I need a store, and fast. I also need to find a place." Tony said, getting up. Sadie groaned.

"What's in it for me?" Harley asked.

"Here." Tony said, giving him a weird-shaped object.

"What is it?" Harley asked, confused.

"For the bullies." He explained.

Harley looked a little embarrassed as Sadie caught his eye but then looked up at Tony, "How did you know?" he asked.

"Just do. Press the button, it'll get 'em off your tail, not hurt 'em, but they'll get the hint." Tony explained.

Harley examined the thing and Sadie took a look at it, "I call that the cricket." She grinned, "Kind of like in Men in Black, the noisy cricket, small and simple, but deadly."

Harley smiled.

"Sadie designed it." Tony explained, putting on a coat and hat.

"Thanks." Harley said to them both. But he was still embarrassed.

Sadie sighed and pulled up her shirt so he could see her arc reactor.

He gasped, "What happened to you?"

"I was dying…so my dad gave me something to help me live. Only I have to keep it a secret." She explained.

"How come?" Harley asked, "You look just like Iron Man now."

Sadie groaned, "I don't wanna be Iron Man, I wanna be me. And it's embarrassing because…"

"Dear God! Why are you always flashing people?!" her dad roared suddenly.

Sadie rolled her eyes, putting her shirt down. She grabbed one of Harley's jackets, zipping it up.

"So why did you show me?" Harley asked her.

"So you don't feel embarrassed about the bullies." Sadie explained, smiling at him, "We all have issues. Iron Man and his daughter most of all."

Harley grinned and then picked up a cowboy hat and put it on her head.

Sadie was a little deterred by it, holding it out in front of her.

"Trust me, you'll want it." Harley told her.

"I don't think I do…" Sadie said, "Won't I look…weird?"

"You'll look weird without it." Harley said, "Besides, you're the one embarrassed by a glowing chest, so I don't think the hat will make much difference.

Sadie glared at him playfully and elbowed him. Sadie sighed and put it on. She walked over to her dad and he gave her a funny look suddenly and laughed. Sadie narrowed her eyes and then broke off another of Iron Man's fingers. Her dad gasped as she smiled, waving it in the air and tossing it behind her back. She marched past him and Harley followed her, trying not to laugh.

…

"What are we looking for exactly?" Sadie asked, wondering if her dad might have had some motive for coming here.

"You'll see." Tony explained, holding her hand.

She looked around the small town and realized how far from home they really were. She was lucky her dad didn't stand out.

They came to an alleyway and Sadie saw a crater with candles and pictures surrounding it. She walked over to it next to Harley. She gasped when she looked up and saw shadow imprints of people on the concrete walls.

"What is it?" Sadie asked in horror.

Harley sat down, as did her dad. Sadie however, walked over to all the pictures to look at them.

Harley began his story, "Years ago this guy, a soldier, went crazy sick and then bombed himself and all these people." He explained sadly.

"That's horrible." Sadie gasped, looking at her dad, "That's why we're here? A bomb?"

"I don't think it's a bomb Sade's." He said, getting up and walking around, "Come here." He said.

She walked over and looked at the crater and then at the shadows.

"How hot are the average bombs?" he asked.

Sadie thought for a minute and realized that this wasn't the work of a bomb.

"Dad, there's no way…these wouldn't be here, this crater wouldn't…" she looked around, feeling terrible.

"Exactly. And the latest bomb that went off just like this one, there were no fragments of a bomb."

"When did the last one hit?" Sadie asked suddenly.

"The other day. I was able to upload the crime scene. Happy was on to something but-"

"Wait, wait!" Sadie cried, "Happy? What happened to him?"

Tony looked awkwardly at her and then admitted, "He's in a coma."

Sadie gasped and backed up, her hand going to her mouth.

Tony sighed and looked around, "That's why we're here, Sadie. The bomb that hurt him is similar to this one. And if I can figure out what this all means…"

"The Mandarin…" Sadie breathed, "He's behind all this?" she asked.

Tony nodded, "I have a suspicion."

Sadie looked around sadly and then at her dad, "Why is all this happening?" she asked him.

He looked at her sadly and then bent down, "I don't know, Sade's. All I know is, you never should have been hurt in any way from all this. You or Pepper."

Sadie took his hand and he looked her in the eyes, "I know you're disappointed in me right now, but know that no matter what happens, you'll stay safe. Promise?"

Sadie took a breath and swallowed, nodding.

He finally got up and walked over towards Harley and sat down, trying to think.

Sadie took one last final look at the eerie shadows and felt heartbroken for Happy. If here dad was right, he needed to stop it. She realized that no one else was built for this job quite like her dad. And if anyone would be able to fix this problem…he would.

Sadie walked around and ignored the questions Harley would ask her dad.

"So…where are the avengers?" he asked Tony.

"Ask Sadie." Tony said, annoyed. He was busy trying to think and this kid was definitely not helping.

"Will they come back?"

"Ask Sadie."

"What's wrong?" Harley suddenly asked him, noticing his breathing getting faster, "You okay?"

"No, I'm not." Tony muttered, still panting.

"You need me to stop?" Harley asked.

"Maybe!" Tony growled.

"Are you on medication?" Harley asked.

"No!"

"Should you be?"

"Probably." Tony said.

Sadie looked over and noticed her dad hyperventilating and glared at Harley, "What did you do?" she yelled.

He shrugged, "I don't know I was just asking about New York and-"

"Gah! He said it again!" Tony yelled, getting up. He began running and Sadie groaned.

"DAD! STOP!" she cried.

"Come back!" Harley yelled.

He stopped at a sign and Sadie finally caught up to him, dropping her hat and then putting her arms around his middle. She felt him tense up again.

"Daddy…" she said, calmly, "Count to five with me."

"What?!" he panted, covering his eyes.

"What can I do? What should I do? Do I need to call a doctor?" Harley asked.

"You can just shut up NOW!" Tony yelled.

"Dad!" Sadie ordered, "Count to five with me."

"Might wanna make it ten." Harley commented.

Sadie ignored him and counted. Her dad finally relaxed and breathed, counting with her.

He finally let out a big breath and then backed up, putting his hands on his knees. Sadie patted his head.

Harley smiled at her, "You're gonna be a good doctor." He said.

"Daddy?" she asked, "You feel better now?"

"Yeah." He said, sounding surprised.

He then glared at Harley and threw snow at his face, "You would make a sucky doctor." He said.

Harley backed up and then picked up the hat.

He looked around and noticed something; a car that didn't exactly belong in Tennessee. He narrowed his eyes and then looked at the two kids in front of him.

"I have some work to do, I need you two to go back to the shed and-"

"No!" Sadie yelled, crossing her arms, "No more keeping me out of things, no more secrets."

Harley nodded, "Maybe if we both come with you we could-"

"NO!" Tony said, holding his hand up, "You wanna help me out?" he asked.

Harley and Sadie nodded.

He got down to their level, "I need you both safe. You watch Sadie and make sure you both stay safe while I do this."

"Where should we go?" Harley asked.

Tony shrugged, "I don't know, a diner or something, I just can't have any distractions right now."

Sadie glared at him, "So I'm a distraction now?" She couldn't believe it. After everything, everything, he was still leaving her.

"No, I just want you safe." He tried.

Sadie pushed him away, angry for having thought he would be the same dad she'd come to love ages ago. No. This was the final straw for her. Everything she'd kept bottled inside was threatening to pour out and for once, she was ready to finally just let it, "Forget it!" she yelled, "I'm done trying to help you out! And I'm done hoping you actually care enough to let me back in. Ever since Libya all you do is shut me out! I'm sick of it!"

"Sade's!" he said calmly.

"NO!" she roared, making even Harley jump, "I'm done. I hate you! And I hope you get what you deserve! You can just forget about me like you always do. Go build your suit and investigate the stupid Mandarin for all I care. I'm going home! And I don't care if you make it or not! Cause all you'll do is forget I even exist!"

Tony stared at her, pain etched in his face.

But Sadie wasn't done, "You wanna forget about me? Fine, I'll forget about you! You should have just let me die! I HATE YOU!"

She turned and stormed off.

Harley looked awkwardly from Tony to Sadie.

Tony stared after her, not even sure what to say. He found Harley looking to him for answers. He took a breath and finally said, "Watch her for me."

Harley gave him a look, "You're gonna fix this right? That is what you do, isn't it?"

Tony put his head in his hands and looked to where Sadie was walking away. He finally nodded, "I will."

"Well don't wait too long, cause it only took me a little while to forget my dad and even less time to hate him." Harley advised. He walked away and then ran after Sadie, hoping to catch her before she got much further.

Tony watched his daughter walking away. Every fiber in him needed to go after her, to hold her again and tell her he'd never forgotten her, ever. That everything he did was for her. But as he looked towards the car and the suspicious people, he knew that in order for Sadie to be able to live long enough to hear him say those words, he had to save the world.

It was no longer Iron Man's job to save the world…it was his.

….

**Phew! Sorry that was so intense. Don't worry there is more Harley and Sadie coming up. **


	5. Chapter 5

"Sadie! Wait up!" Harley called.

Sadie kept walking, still fuming about her dad.

"Stop!" Harley yelled.

"Leave me alone!" Sadie yelled back.

Harley sighed and finally reached her and put his hand on her shoulder, "Come on, just hold on a second!" he said.

She stared at him, looking angrier than he'd ever seen anybody.

He took a breath, "Did you mean all that back there?"

"Yes, I did." She said, glaring at him.

He sighed and then held out his hand, "You need pancakes."

"What?" she asked, taken aback.

"My mom can hook us up at the diner, come on."

She looked around and realized it was too late to go find her dad and she honestly didn't want to. Plus she didn't feel like walking in the snow again.

She nodded and finally took his hand and let him lead her to his mom's diner.

They walked in and Sadie instantly felt so much better. It was a small little diner but it was warm and she could smell eggs, bacon, coffee, and buttermilk pancakes. She couldn't contain her smile as Harley led her to a barstool at the front.

"Harley!" a woman said, giving him a look, "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Hi Mom." Harley said, "Do you think you could get my friend some pancakes?"

"What? Who?" his mother asked.

Sadie looked up shyly from her seat; she smiled at the woman who had Harley's hair and eyes. She wore her hair in a messy bun and she looked tired, but smiled at her all the same.

"Well, hello there, what's your name?" she asked Sadie.

"Sadie. It's nice to meet you." Sadie answered.

"Well, I'm Clara, Harley's Mom." Clara said. Then she looked over at Harley, "How did you two meet? Don't think I've ever seen you around before, Sadie."

"I don't live here." Sadie said quickly, but didn't know how else to answer his mom.

"You know Harley's other jacket looks like that." Clara suddenly said.

"Mom!" Harley groaned.

"What?"

Sadie blushed, "Um…Harley's letting me borrow his coat. My family doesn't really have much money and we're only here for a little while so he let me have it." She lied.

Clara looked sadly at her and then smiled warmly, "How about some nice hot pancakes, then, sweetie?"

Sadie smiled and nodded, "Thanks."

Once Clara left, Sadie turned to Harley, "I promise I'll pay you back, but I seriously don't have money right now. Once I get home, I'll send you a check."

"Don't sweat it. I get free food here all the time." Harley laughed. Sadie felt a little better.

"Nice cover, by the way." Harley told her.

"Yeah well, for some odd reason the story sounds more believable than reality at the moment." Sadie admitted.

Clara came back and gave them both a big stack of pancakes with butter and syrup, "Dig in you two, and stay as long as you need. Sadie, did you want some milk?"

"Yes please." Sadie admitted, smiling.

Clara poured her a glass, "It's nice to see Harley making some friends." She admitted.

Once again, Harley wanted to die on the spot from embarrassment.

Sadie smiled at him, "He's been real nice to me."

"I'm glad, that's how I raised him." Clara said, ruffling Harley's hair.

"Clara!" a cook yelled, "You getting the order?"

"On it!" Clara yelled back and went to serve the other patrons.

Sadie dove into her pancakes and didn't think she'd ever had anything better in her life.

Harley smiled, watching her eat. He took a few bites but a part of him wanted to ask her why she was so upset earlier.

The pancakes seemed to help her clear her head a little and she finally sighed, "I'm sorry I yelled in front of you." She said.

"What happened?" Harley asked her.

She shrugged, "I don't know…I mean, I guess I've been feeling so put down and forgotten lately that I just…snapped."

"Are you going to talk to him?" Harley asked.

Sadie sighed, "I don't know."

"What if he gets hurt or dies?" Harley asked.

Sadie sobbed quietly and Harley looked around anxiously, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry, that was so dumb! I'm sorry!"

"No! You're right." Sadie whispered, choking on a sob, "He could and I told him I hated him."

"It's not too late, we could find him and you could-"

They both looked up as they heard a loud sound. It sounded like an explosion.

Sadie and Harley gave each other uncomfortable looks and ran outside.

They both looked up and saw a building on fire.

"Dad…" Sadie breathed. Both she and Harley ran towards it.

Sadie was in shock when she saw her dad fighting the weirdest person. They looked like some kind of lava monster, their skin was turning red like fire and they were very strong.

Harley turned to her suddenly, "Sadie, I know that's your dad out there, but can you go make sure my mom is okay?"

"What?" Sadie gasped, trying to find her dad.

"Please, I'm really worried about her." He said.

Sadie knew what he was doing. He was simply trying to keep her safe. And a part of her wanted to ignore him, but she could also tell he was in actuality worried about his mom.

Sadie finally nodded, "I'll go check on her."

"Thanks." He said.

"What about you?" she asked him.

He pulled out his potato gun, "I'm covered." He smiled.

Sadie nodded and ran towards the diner. If Harley could keep an eye on her dad, she could help keep an eye on his mom.

…..

Harley was feeling pretty good about helping Iron Man out. Not to mention, he knew for a fact that Sadie was safe. He walked up to Tony, who was opening a car door.

"Hey!" Harley called out to him, running up to him.

Tony turned and grinned at him, "Hey yourself."

"That's it? No 'thank you'?" Harley said annoyed.

"Oh, you're welcome." Tony scoffed.

Harley rolled his eyes.

"So that's it? You're really just gonna leave me and Sadie here?"

"Let's face it; you're better at taking care of her than I am." Tony mumbled, still feeling devastated that his daughter hated him. But at least he knew she was okay and would be okay here with Harley. That's all that mattered to him.

"You should let us come with you. Admit it; you need me as much as you need Sadie." Harley said, "We're all connected."

"Yeah, the only thing connecting me and my daughter right now is the fact that she shares my DNA. Other than that, she hates my guts." Tony said, getting into the car, "And you…I'm just stuck with you." He rolled his eyes.

"So you're just gonna leave? Just like my dad? You're not even going to try to prove to Sadie that you love her?" Harley said.

"You're guilt-tripping me, aren't you?" Tony said.

"I'm cold." Harley whimpered.

"You know how I can tell?" Tony said, starting the car, "Cause we're connected." He smiled, saluting Harley.

Harley huffed and shrugged, "Worth a shot, I guess."

Suddenly the car backed up and Harley was seriously getting excited when he saw the look on Tony's face. He handed Harley a picture.

Harley took it and noticed it was a picture of Tony holding Sadie at some kind of event. They both looked very happy.

"Give that to Sade's for me, will ya?" Tony asked.

"Why?" Harley asked.

Tony sighed, "Because I trust you, kid."

He finally drove away and Harley turned the picture over and read the handwriting; _Proof that I have a heart and a daughter. Sadie Ophelia. Stark, my greatest invention. _

…..

Sadie waited for Harley at the diner. People were rushing back and forth all over the place. Harley's mom was looking worried and Sadie didn't know what to tell her.

Harley finally came back and his mom showered him with kisses and annoyances, "Don't you ever do that again, young man! I was so worried! You could have been killed!"

Harley shrugged her off and then nodded to Sadie.

"You're right Mom, I think I'll take Sadie home now and then I'll wait for you at home." He promised.

She nodded and then hugged Sadie before she left, "It was nice meeting you, sweetie."

"Thank you for the pancakes." Sadie said as Harley dragged her out

Once they were out of earshot and walking back to his place, she finally asked him what had happened.

He explained to her briefly that Tony was able to get rid of whatever those monsters were and drive off.

Sadie paused and glared at him, "What do you mean he drove off?"

He sighed and rubbed his neck, "He said he had some work to do. He had to go."

"Typical." Sadie muttered and continued walking. And to think she was actually beginning to feel bad about what she'd said to him.

They got back to his place and she was feeling exhausted. She sat on the couch and shoved the Iron Man suits on the floor.

"Be careful!" Harley said.

"Screw the damn suits!" Sadie yelled, kicking them, "That's all he cares about anyways!"

"That's not true!" Harley said, trying to get her to stop kicking the suits all over the place, "He cares about you too!"

"No he doesn't!" Sadie cried, picking up some of the pieces and throwing them around, not caring what she hit. Harley ducked, avoiding her wrath. He cringed when she stomped on a few pieces and finally collapsed to her knees, sobbing.

He finally got down and put a hand on her shoulder, "Sadie…I know how you feel." He said. She shuddered and cried while he continued, "When my dad took off, I was really angry, and I missed him. But the only difference between you and me is that your dad took off because he loves you."

"He doesn't love me." She sobbed, wiping her face.

Harley took out the picture and showed it to her. She took it, confused and then turned it over. New tears formed in her eyes when she read her dad's handwriting on the back of the picture.

"Where did you get this?" she asked him.

"He gave it to me before he left." Harley told her, "He said that I had to give it to you."

Sadie looked at the words and wondered why on earth this picture looked all messed up and wrinkled and then she realized her dad kept it on his person everywhere he went.

"See?" Harley said, "He does love you and he needs us. He didn't leave you here with me just because he wanted to, but because he needs us here."

Sadie took a breath, closing her eyes and looked around at the mess she'd made.

"I can fix it." Harley said proudly, "I'm gonna be a mechanic after all."

Sadie wiped her eyes and smiled at him, "You need an assistant?"

They both got to work putting the suit pieces on the couch when they heard a car pulling up. They looked at one another carefully.

"Is that your mom?" Sadie asked him.

He shook his head, "Her car is older and when it breaks it makes a roaring sound."

They saw the lights turn off and then heard multiple car doors closing.

Harley shut off the lights quickly and grabbed his potato gun. Sadie grabbed a crowbar and followed Harley under the desk to hide.

Sadie could hear muffled voices outside and then both jumped as the door was kicked in.

"Find her!" A rough voice ordered.

Harley looked quickly at Sadie who turned pale. He held her hand and narrowed his eyes. He nodded to her and she knew he would do everything he could to keep her safe.

They could hear a bunch of men making a mess, looking for her.

"His suit's here! Which means she is too." Another voice called out.

Harley crawled underneath the desk and found a small opening behind some shelves. He pulled Sadie towards him when the desk was overturned suddenly and both squinted as multiple flashlights shone in their faces.

Sadie screeched and Harley fired his potato gun, hitting one of the guys in the face.

"It's her!" one called, lunging at her.

She swung her crowbar and hit is hands. He yelped in surprise and she grabbed Harley's hand and both attempted to run when a group of men grabbed them and separated them.

Harley and Sadie struggled.

"Let her go!" Harley yelled.

Sadie grunted and then paused when the lights went on and someone came into the room. She froze in terror when she realized who it was.

The man looked up at her with light blue eyes and smiled menacingly, "Long time no see, Sadie." He said.

"Harrow…" Sadie breathed. She couldn't believe it; they'd found her.

Harley continued to struggle and the thug holding him held a gun to his face.

"NO!" Sadie screamed, "Don't hurt him!" she cried.

"Sadie!" he called to her, "Don't let them take you!"

"If you come with us without a struggle, we'll let him go." Harrow promised.

Sadie looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

"Don't listen to them, Sadie!" Harley cried.

"You won't hurt him?" Sadie asked, "You'll let him go?"

"My word is my bond." Harrow said, extending his hand to her, "Come with us and we'll let him go."

Sadie looked at Harley who still struggled. She relaxed and nodded.

"That's my good girl." Harrow said as Sadie shook and walked over to him, her legs threatening to buckle. She couldn't believe she was actually walking into the hands of a man who'd tortured her months ago, hanging her in a well to suffer.

He grabbed her upper arm roughly and she winced as he tugged her to him.

He nodded to the others, "Just knock the brat out. We don't want him following us."

"SADIE!" Harley yelled, and then managed to bite his captors hand and elbow his nose.

The man holding him grunted and then smacked the gun into his head.

"HARLEY!" Sadie cried, trying to run to him, "Don't hurt him!"

Harley fell to a heap on the floor and the men walked out.

"Do we want the suit?" one of them asked.

Harrow scoffed, "That piece of junk? No, the Mandarin will take care of all that. No, the prize we came for is right here." He smiled at Sadie and she stared up at him with fear in her eyes. She was pulled away from Harley's shed and thrown roughly into a car onto the floor. Men got in and obviously had no care for her, as one of them stomped on her face, knocking her out.

"Sweet dreams, Sadie. We'll be home shortly." Harrow said from the front seat.


	6. Chapter 6

**Warning: Sadie gets beaten pretty badly in this chapter. It is not written out in detail. Also there are spoilers for the film. If you have not seen the movie, do not read this story!**

…**..**

Sadie groaned, opening her eyes, one of which felt swollen. She was still on the floor of the car and they were obviously still moving. She wondered where she was and what was going to happen to her.

She wanted to move but was too scared of getting kicked. She suddenly heard Harrow talking harshly to somebody and she listened closely.

"I don't care what looks best to you; I'm taking her to where we originally planned!"

He was quiet for a moment and she had a feeling he was talking on the phone.

"Keep in mind; I'm not doing this for revenge anymore. I took Sadie Stark so she could help me fulfill what I want from her."

Sadie's stomach turned and she had a feeling she knew what he was talking about.

She heard him huff angrily, "Fine, but I'm not letting you fill her with that pathetic science experiment. Do all you want to Stark's girlfriend, but Sadie is mine and I won't have her damaged."

Sadie nearly cried out; her mom was in trouble too?

"Which base again? And you're sure that's where he'll be? Good enough just don't bang her up too badly."

Sadie clenched her jaw to keep from being sick. She had no clue what was going to happen to her, all she knew was, she was in trouble and her dad might not be able to rescue her. Not to mention how scared she was for her mom.

"Where to boss?" the driver asked.

"Take us to the first base." Harrow said, "Apparently we may get company."

"Stark?"

"Apparently. The Master wishes us to make an example of her. Course if I had it my way we'd be out of the country already and using her to her full potential and not as a negotiating tool." Harrow spat.

"I think she's waking up." One of the men in the backseat grunted.

Sadie froze, trying not to shiver from fear.

Sadie heard Harrow turn in his seat to look at her, "I really wish you wouldn't ruin such a talent." He said, obviously pointing out her swollen eye, "But it doesn't matter, she'll be getting worse once we reach our destination."

"Should I put her back under? I don't want a fussy kid." One of the other men in the back said, raising his leg slightly. Sadie clenched and curled tighter into a ball.

"No. Let her stay awake, save her for the Master." Harrow said, "This could be a good thing, maybe Sadie might beg for mercy enough to do as I ask."

Sadie nearly cried out that she would rather rot than do what he asked of her, but thought better of it. She was clearly outmatched here and didn't know what was even coming after. She just had to stay alive and awake long enough to figure out what was really going on. She only hoped she could.

…

Tony called Harley as he drove. He figured he might as well see if his suit was about ready and he also wanted to know how Sadie was holding up.

He quickly called Harley who answered it in a panic, "Tony?!" he cried, "I'm so sorry!" he yelled.

"Jeez, kid, what did you do? Break the suit? Calm down." Tony mumbled, rubbing his nearly deaf ear.

"No! I tried, I really tried, but they came and they took her."

"What?" he asked, not sure he heard correctly.

"These guys, one of them was blonde and his name was...Farrow? Harrow?"

"Harrow?!" Tony gasped, stepping on the breaks, "What happened?" he yelled.

Harley was doing his best to keep calm, but was devastated about what had happened, "I'm so sorry, I tried to hide her and keep her safe, I did, but they came and they had guns and she went with them."

Tony's breathing picked up again and he was feeling sick to his stomach. Harrow was back…

He thought back to when he was captured and then remembered something that Harrow had said to him and Sadie in that cave:

"_I guess you could call him my superior. He knew my utter hatred and repulsion of you was too strong to ever take you on Tony, so he gave me a task that would help me focus and gain new insight and inevitably…change the world."_

Tony understood now why Sadie was taken to begin with. It wasn't just about Harrow or Parker…It was always the Mandarin.

"Tony?" Harley cried out, "Are you okay?"

"The suit." Tony ground out, "Is it charging?"

"No." Harley said.

Tony pretty much lost it from there. He opened his car door and slammed it shut. His daughter was taken by the worst terrorist in the world. His Iron Man suit was busted completely. He didn't know where Pepper was. He was completely and utterly alone. All he had was a car, a password, and a kid from Tennessee to help him.

"Tony?" Harley tried again, "Sadie needs you, I need you. What are you going to do?" he cried.

Tony took a moment and tried picturing Sadie's arms around him, counting to five. An image of her angry face stood out to him. She'd told him she hated him. Well news flash, he hated him too.

"The suit…" he panted, "Why is it not charging?" he asked, grinding his teeth.

"It's just not working, I've tried everything and I'm really scared about Sadie." He said.

"Makes two of us, but doesn't change the fact I need that suit, kid."

"Sadie hated that thing." Harley said, "Maybe she was right."

"Thanks, that really helps my anxiety level kid." Tony muttered.

"Why don't you just build something?" Harley finally asked, "I mean, you are a mechanic. That's what you do; fix things."

Tony suddenly thought of Sadie in that cave. She built a phone out of scraps to contact SHIELD to come and save them. Well, he didn't need a phone, but hell, he was Iron Man. He could make anything from scraps, right?

"Thanks kid, call you later." He said, hanging up.

He got in his car and drove as fast as he could, digging up any and all information on the Mandarin's base and then began his search for a hardware store. He wasn't going to let Sadie down, suit or no.

…..

Sadie took small breaths to recover. She'd figured out their schedule by now. Come in, beat her senseless for a few minutes that felt like hours of beatings, then leave for five minutes and come back to do some more. She didn't even need to be tied down at this point. She could barely move. She knew her wrist was shattered and her face looked like a punching bag, a couple of ribs were obviously close to breaking, and her ankle had been twisted painfully.

She didn't know what their game was but it obviously had to do with her dad. She hadn't even seen the Mandarin. All she'd seen were these awful looking people who glowed orange. They obviously had no soul to be doing what they were doing.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the group came in again for the usual beating spree. She groaned and curled tighter into a ball.

"She's lookin' pretty good." One of them joked.

"Think she's up for more?" another asked.

Sadie wished she could kick them all in the crotch. She'd fought in the beginning, but to no avail. These guys were very strong and very unmerciful.

"And how is she doing?" another voice said, coming into the room. They parted and Sadie peeked up at a man wearing a suit. He was blonde and looked like a douche. She glared at him as best she could.

He bent down and got a good look at her, smiling, "How are we feeling Sadie?" he asked in a voice that made her want to rip his face off.

"Can you speak?" he asked her, feeling her forehead. She flinched when his hand made contact with her skin.

"Don't be scared of me. In fact, I'm your savior right now. Aldrich Killian." He said, "So you might want to make a good impression for me." He advised.

"Go to hell." Sadie breathed, astonished at how weak and breathless she sounded.

He laughed, "That's a Stark trait alright!"

She looked up at him and glared.

"You don't know who I am, do you?" he asked, taking off his jacket and handing it to one of his goons.

"I don't care." She spat, coughing up a little blood.

"You might want to, considering I'm the mastermind behind the greatest terrorist icon this century has ever seen. Not to mention the brains behind the deaths of your parents, well, your fake parents at least."

Sadie stared in horror at him. This was the man who killed her parents? The one who took them from her? The man who put Happy in a coma and kidnapped her in Libya?

"I can see you're in shock." He laughed.

"What do you want?" Sadie cried, her voice cracking.

"Water?" he asked her politely. She glared at him again and he finally answered her, "Well, no offense but it's nothing personal against you Sadie, you just happen to be the daughter of a man I absolutely despise. Not to mention you are just as incredibly talented. Unfortunately, I can't let Harrow take you anymore. I'm afraid that once I'm finished with my work, my greatest accomplishment will be taking everything from your father and I mean…everything."

"Then why don't you just kill me?" Sadie cried.

"Because I want him to know you suffered and I want him to see how much he failed."

"You're sick." Sadie coughed.

"I know." He said, smiling, "Now I have to leave, but I'm letting my guys here take good care of you, so behave for me okay?"

He patted her head and then got up to leave. The group converged on her and Sadie couldn't hold back her scream any longer.

…..

**Yes I know, Killian is a sick bastard. He was in the movie as well. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Warning: Spoilers in this chapter! Also, some torture. **

…**..**

Tony stared at the incredibly stupid man before him. He'd spent his hard earned money making hardware store weapons out of Christmas decorations, studying every possible entryway to get in and save his daughter and hopefully catch the Mandarin, and here he was, in front of the Mandarin himself…only this was most definitely not the Mandarin. He listened to this Trevor guy talking and rolled his eyes heavenward. This idiot was high as a kite and drunk to boot.

Tony finally held his gun high, "Where is Sadie?" he demanded.

The guy got nervous and sat down, "Uh…" he looked over at the hookers in his bed, "Is she a hooker?" he asked Tony.

Tony advanced, "She's my nine-year-old daughter you creep! Where is she? Where did they take her?"

"Uh…Look, I'm not part of all that." Trevor explained, "I just play a part, I don't know what they do with all the stuff they say they do…"

"I'm not kidding." Tony threatened and cocked his gun, "You tell me where she is."

Trevor stared around awkwardly and one of the girls behind Tony piped up, "I thought I heard a little girl screaming and crying, but I thought it was somebody watching a movie." She said.

Trevor got excited, "Yeah! See, I don't know anything, but if you look around I'm sure-"

Tony glared at him quickly and then turned to the girls, "Where?" he asked them.

"I don't know." They admitted, "I mean this place is huge…"

Tony turned around and found Trevor actually sleeping, "Did you just seriously conk off?" he muttered, jamming him in the arm.

Trevor woke up suddenly and then continued to panic, "I'm serious, I didn't know about anyone getting hurt, I didn't even know there was a kid here."

"So you just heard a kid screaming and felt it was just a horror movie and let it go?" Tony asked, getting annoyed, and then pointed the gun at Trevor, "I'm not kidding anymore, tell me everything you know, or I blow your stoned head off."

"Okay, okay!" Trevor said.

But Tony never got a chance to ask about Sadie, or the plan the Mandarin had, because somebody had come in and knocked him out cold.

…

Tony woke up tied to something. He was finally coming to when he saw someone looking at him. He looked closer and groaned, "Wow." Was all he could say, "Why doesn't this surprise me?"

Maya smiled at him sadly, "This is my life's work, Tony." She admitted, shrugging as though it made no difference to her that he was here tied up and the world in danger.

He glared at her, "Considering the clown had no clue where my daughter was maybe you could maintain a soul for a few seconds and tell me where she is."

She looked up sadly and avoided his gaze.

Tony threw his head back in frustration and another horrifying thought occurred to him, "Where's Pepper?" he asked.

She looked up and seemed like she wanted to say something, when someone else came into the room. Tony looked over and couldn't believe who it was, "You kidding me?" he practically laughed.

"Tony, Tony, Tony…" Killian smiled, "Boy you are probably wishing you hadn't ignored me that night."

Tony scoffed, "Please, don't tell me this is your way of getting back at me for not taking your seriously? Cause I gotta say that's pretty pathetic, even for you."

Killian stared at him, "My life's work has actually been helped by your arrogance so really, I owe you thanks. But in all seriousness, what I plan for this country…for the world is going to change everything we've ever thought about ourselves. And to be quite honest, I could do without your meddling."

"Okay, fine, I'll go on holiday. Let Sadie and Pepper go, wherever they are and I'll totally just-"

"Bring her in!" Killian suddenly called.

Tony looked over as a couple of men dragged something into the room. Tony got a good look and nearly vomited; Sadie was covered from head to toe in bruises and blood. Even the oversized shirt she was wearing had stains on it. Her ankle looked mangled and she was whimpering in pain.

They dropped her on the ground and she cried out.

"Go." Killian said, and then walked over the Sadie. Maya actually put her hand to her mouth and had to look away when she'd seen what they had done to Sadie.

"Sadie, I have a surprise for you." Killian said to her and Tony wanted to throttle him.

Sadie opened her eyes weakly and quivered.

"Look right up there, sweetheart." He said to her.

Sadie did as he asked and Tony had a feeling she was terrified of getting hurt so she simply did as she was told. He caught her eyes and could feel tears forming in his own.

She cried quietly and stared up at him. He was devastated and had no clue how on earth to help her.

Killian put a hand on her head and she groaned, "Daddy…"

At her words Tony couldn't hold back his anger any longer, "You son of a bitch…" he growled.

Killian stood up and smiled at him, "Did I mention that this isn't even the best part." He said, nearly laughing. He pulled a few round balls out of his pocket and then rolled them on the floor. A live image of Pepper was standing before Tony. She was strapped to some kind of device and was obviously in pain.

Sadie looked up, crying, "MOM! No!"

"Sadie, look away, just look at me." Tony said, "Sadie, baby, just look at me!"

Sadie did as she was told and cried so loudly Tony never thought he'd heard anything more upsetting in his life. He looked at her hard and nodded his head, "It's gonna be okay…just keep eyes on me."

"Sad really, it's not quite done, but nearly there. Pretty soon she'll be perfect, but until then it's just…sheer pain." Killian said.

"Daddy…" she groaned, "I don't-"

Killian kicked her in the chest and she cried out.

"Stop it!" Tony yelled at Killian, "Do all you want to me, you let her go!"

"That's not how it works, Tony." Killian said, getting down on one knee and looking at Sadie, "I'm simply making it clear that I have every possible power of taking everything you hold dear from you. And letting you see how badly you've failed. Take Sadie for example…"

His hand began to glow and he touched Sadie's back, burning it. She cried out in pain.

Tony couldn't and wouldn't close his eyes. All he could do was struggle to get out and plead with Killian to let Sadie go.

He let go of her and looked up at him smiling, then bent down and ordered Sadie to say something, "I want you to tell your dad one last thing before I kill you." He told her.

Sadie sobbed and Tony struggled even more.

"I want you to tell him how disappointed you are in him and how much you hate him. Tell him that he would have been better off not being your father. Go on Sadie, you and I both know how angry you are at him and how this is all his fault."

Sadie sobbed and shook her head. He grabbed her hair roughly, "Do it." He ordered, throwing her head back down.

She looked up at her dad and cried. She saw the tears in his eyes and the anger at himself and at Killian.

"Daddy…" she groaned finally, "I…I don't hate you. I love you." She said and Killian burned her back again.

She screamed in pain, "DADDY YOU'RE MY HERO!"

"Stop right now!" Maya suddenly said and everyone looked up at her. She was holding some kind of device to her neck, "Let her go, you said no kids would get hurt."

Killian stood up and put his hands up, "Maya…" he cooed.

"Shut up and back away from her!" she ordered, "You and I both know what this will do if I press it."

Killian sighed and rolled his eyes, his hands going to his pockets.

"I'm serious." She said, practically shaking and staring sadly at Sadie on the floor, "Just let her be, she's innocent."

"I'm sure but that's not the point." He said.

"Do as I say or I swear to God!" she yelled at him.

"So, if I don't do as you say, we all die anyways?" Killian laughed, "Maya, come on-"

"Not another word." She yelled, "I can't keep doing this anymore." She said.

"Oh, you mean this?" Killian asked, taking out a gun and shooting her in the chest.

Sadie screamed and Tony was shocked. He looked sadly at Maya falling to the ground, clutching her stomach.

Killian turned around and then smiled at Tony, "Talk about performance issues." He joked, "Now where were we?" he asked.

"Sir!" someone said coming in.

"Not now!" he yelled back.

"Sir, we have him." The man said.

Killian sighed and then looked from Tony to Sadie, "You two be okay while I go take care of some business?" he asked.

Sadie could hardly move and Tony was definitely not going anywhere. He finally walked up to Tony, "As soon as I take care of my Christmas spectacular, I'm going to take everything away from you, starting with your little brat and then your precious Pepper." He whispered.

Tony glared at him as he walked away. Two goons came in to guard them and Tony was getting worried about Sadie on the ground. She wasn't moving but she was obviously in a lot of pain. Her breathing was shallow and pained and she was crying silently.

"Sadie…" he whispered to her so she could hear him, "Sadie...I'm not going to let them hurt you anymore, I promise."

She looked up at him with those beautiful eyes that so matched his and he was moved to do everything he could to keep his promise, "I'll keep saving you." He promised.

Sadie groaned and closed her eyes, "Dad…I don't hate you." She repeated softly.

He smiled at her, "I know, I know. I'm so proud of you; just hang in there a little longer; we'll get out of this. You and me, like old times."

He saw her mouth corners twitch slightly and then she seemed to relax herself and breathe easier.

"Knocked her out." One of the pathetic goons laughed, pointing his toes at Sadie and nudging her.

"Hey!" Tony glared, "You might not want to mess with my kid anymore, because as soon as I get out, the first thing I'm going to do is punch you in the face, break your leg, and then smash your face in."

They laughed at him and he smiled as they all heard a beeping sound.

Tony rolled his eyes, "Sorry, that's me!" he said.

One of the guards ripped a Dora the Explorer watch off his wrist, "Careful!" Tony said as they laughed at it, "It's a limited edition."

"Ooh! What you gonna do?" one of the guards mocked him.

"Hey! Don't mess with that!" Tony said as they threw it on the ground. They looked up laughing and then stomped on it.

"Seriously?" Tony yelled, "That was my friend's sister's watch! Okay, now you're gonna pay!"

"Really?" One guard laughed, "So I take it I shouldn't do this?" he said, stomping on Sadie's leg.

She cried out and Tony got very angry, "Okay, no more Mr. Nice Guy, I'm gonna have a ton of fun killing you NOW!" he said, his hands making a motion. Nothing happened and Tony tried again.

Sadie looked up at him, curling into a ball, praying with all her might that the suit she despised and hated could help get them out of this.

She closed her eyes and tried to stay awake long enough to indeed see her dad kick these guys to kingdom come. She recognized the many faces who's been beating her for hours, so she had no qualms with her dad practically killing them.

They were laughing at Tony as he attempted many times to call the suit to his body.

Sadie tried moving and one of them put his foot onto her burning back and she screamed in pain, "So I take it you're going to stop me from doing this?" he asked again, pressing harder into her back. She cried, looking up at her dad who was getting frustrated and determined.

She took a breath and knew she was close to passing out, "Kick his ass, Daddy." She grunted.

As if on cue, everyone heard a strange sound and a window shattering. The goons looked over but didn't even notice that a gauntlet had attached to Tony's hand.

"Finally!" he yelled happily and was able to break from his bonds, using the bed to bang into one of the goons.

As for the one who'd been kicking Sadie, Tony held on to his promise and punched the jerk in the face. He spun around and broke his shin bone, earning a howl from him. He then knocked the guy to the ground and made sure to use his gauntlet and smash the guys face in.

Tony got up, "Told you." He smirked. He ran to Sadie and picked her up carefully, "Sadie…" he said, gently rubbing the hair from her eyes.

She looked up at him weakly, wincing.

"Hey." He smiled at her, "I got 'em."

She seemed to smile with her eyes up at him and he knew he'd done well. He kissed her forehead lightly and tried carrying her when he heard more people coming in. He groaned and found a place to hide Sadie, "Stay here, I'll take care of this." He told her, gently depositing her behind some desks.

Sadie grabbed his hand and he paused to look at her. She didn't say anything, but she didn't need to. He knew how sorry she was for saying what she'd said to him before. He quickly kissed her cheek and let her go.

He found a gun and went to work. Sure enough more of his suit came flying in to save the day and he was feeling pretty good about keeping his promise to Sadie. Oh yeah, these ass holes were definitely getting theirs for hurting his little girl.


	8. Chapter 8

Tony had finished blasting these guys to kingdom come. That and his suit had finally come back to him. Only problem was that he couldn't really fly, which annoyed him to no end. So there he was, holding his unconscious daughter in his suit, walking around like an idiot, tripping and trying not to cause more pain to her injuries.

Jarvis wasn't much help either. Shoot he couldn't even finish his sentences correctly. So needless to say, Tony was a mess right now.

He came barreling down some steps awkwardly when he bumped into someone. Only this time it was actually a friend.

"Rhodey!" he called happily.

"Tony!" Rhodey called back, "Wait…" he looked up and Tony saw where he was looking. Iron Patriot was flying after some helicopters, "I assume that's not you up there." Rhodey commented.  
"I thought that was you." Tony added.

They looked at one another and then Rhodey noticed Sadie, "God, what happened to her?" he asked, then took her from Tony.

A few goons came down and Tony simply used his armor to smash them all as quick as possible, "They did." He answered.

Rhodey glared and then looked to Tony, "Let's go, we need to find out what they're doing with the president."

"The president's in danger?" Tony gasped, "Crap, that just made this day more significantly stressful." He grumbled.

"Come on." Rhodey said, carrying Sadie.

"Hold on…" Tony mentioned, "I know a faster way to get to them. Wanna meet the Mandarin?" he asked Rhodey.

Rhodey stared at him like he was an idiot and followed him cautiously.

….

Sadie woke up feeling awful. She felt the wind on her body and smelled sea salt. And all she heard was the sound of a motor. When she felt misty water hit her face, she'd figured out that she was indeed on a boat. She only prayed it was not another kidnapper. At this point she might as well write a movie called "Finding Sadie".

She groaned and opened her eyes a smidge. She saw Rhodey driving the boat and her dad talking to him. His suit was off and she was glad for that.

"Daddy…" she mumbled.

He looked over at her and smiled. He walked over and bent down, patting her head, "I'm so sorry Sade's, I wanna take you to a hospital but those guys might-"

"I know." She coughed, "We've been through this before." She mumbled.

He smiled and kissed her head and then whispered quietly, "I am so sorry, Sadie. You should never have been put in harm's way. This is all my fault." He said.

She was able to use her uninjured arm to find his head and then whisper back, "I know, Daddy. It is your fault. But I still love you. Just get Mom home."

He smiled, nodding, "That's the plan."

She winced and he looked over at Rhodey, "Where's the first aid, I'm gonna patch her up and then get to work on the plan." He said.

Rhodey nodded and went to go find one.

Tony looked back at Sadie and couldn't believe he was looking at his daughter with bruises covering her face. He sighed and rubbed her forehead gently, hoping he was doing something useful for her.

Her eyes were drooping and she seemed to have trouble breathing. He knew it was probably from a broken rib.

He sighed and was relieved when Rhodey came back with the first aid kit, "I got this, you help the president." He said.

Tony shook his head, "Sadie needs me right now."

"Tony, you are the only one with the suit right now." Rhodey said.

"And I said, Sadie needs me. I'm not putting her second anymore." He said sternly.

"Daddy..." Sadie moaned, "Go."

Tony looked at her and shook his head again, "I mean it, I can't keep putting you last."

"You can put me first after we save the president." She smiled weakly, "Just don't take so long."

He smiled and kissed her head quickly, "I'll be back before you know it." He promised.

He finally nodded to Rhodey and got ready. The sooner he helped the president, the sooner he could be with Sadie. That thought would keep him going as Iron Man went to do his job.

…

Rhodey took care of cleaning up her wounds as best he could and bandaging her shattered wrist. He made sure her ankle was supported and then bandaged her chest carefully.

She was still having trouble breathing, but she looked a little better. He noticed how often she'd lose consciousness and then come to again. He patted her head, "Hang in there, Sadie."

She held his hand and he held it back, smiling at her.

She looked around, hoping to see her dad. She knew he was helping people. That was what he did. He saved people. Shoot, he'd saved her countless times, even before when he got her out of that horrible place. But she needed him now more than ever.

"Rhodey?" she asked weakly, her voice getting softer than before, "Where's my dad?" she asked him.

"He's okay, Sadie, he's helping people right now, I promise he's coming back." Rhodey said to her, "Don't worry, okay, just rest."

"I need…Daddy." She breathed.

"I know, just a little longer, okay?" he said.

"Okay." She said and closed her eyes. He got up to go look around, hoping Tony was doing a better job on his end.

….

She knew it was coming. She'd felt it before…she was dying. She wanted to see him one last time. She wanted her mom to be okay. She wanted to live just this once, but her body was finally telling her it was over. She swore she could see her parent's faces, only she didn't want to. She wanted her dad and mom, Tony and Pepper. She never got to tell her mom how much she loved her. And of all the faces she wanted to see before she died, she wanted her dad's face. The one who wasn't going to put her last any longer, the one who let her sit in his lap while building his suit. The dad who held her close when she had a nightmare. The dad who always came to her rescue. A part of her wanted to see him because she knew he'd rescue her again. But a part of her just wanted to be at peace and be happy with seeing his face one last time.

She took one final breath and imagined her favorite day, the day he called her his daughter for the first time and held her like a dad. She was so proud of him and loved him so much…and she knew that as long as he was doing what he did best, she was happy.

…..

Rhodey looked over at Sadie but felt something was wrong. He walked over and felt her chest. His eyes widened and he tried listening for a heartbeat. He didn't hear one…he didn't feel one. Sadie was dead.

"TONY!" he yelled, opening the door where Tony sat in the dark, taking care of the passengers of the plane that had been attacked.

"TONY!" Rhodey yelled again.

"Gah! What?" Tony yelled back, opening his eyes. His suit had just been crashed into by a truck, so he was in the clear now.

"Sadie…" Rhodey said, "Tony, she's not…she's not breathing! Get out here now!"

Tony shot up and ran out. He bent down and felt her chest; he listened for a heartbeat and felt none.

He looked at her face. It was almost like she was just sleeping peacefully.

"Sadie!" he called, shaking her gently, "Sadie! Wake up!"

He began panicking and shook her harder, his eyes watering, "Sadie! Don't do this to me now, Sade's come on!"

"Help me get her on the floor." Rhodey said, "I'm gonna try some CPR."

Tony helped get her on the ground, still not sure what to think. His baby was dead. His little girl was dead. She wasn't supposed to die, she was supposed to live. He was supposed to die. He panted, his head spinning as her laughter filled his brain. He was having trouble breathing again as Rhodey performed CPR on her bruised body.

He got up and ran to the edge of the boat and cried out, releasing a breath he'd been holding in. He clutched his chest and fell to the ground, crying.

He could hear her in his head, counting with him. He could feel her arms around his middle, hugging him. He wanted to reach out and hold her.

He counted to five with Sadie in his head and opened his eyes suddenly. He ran forward and lifted her shirt. Her chest piece wasn't glowing. His eyes widened when he realized that when Killian burned her and when the others were beating her they were causing damage to her arc reactor, possibly screwing with its system.

He got up quickly to go find something. He went to the electricity panel on the boat and found what he needed, taking out some wires that were useless for the boat and then going back to Sadie. He pushed Rhodey aside and got to work unscrewing her chest piece and fixing it.

When he connected the wires and put her chest piece back in, her chest shot up and the chest piece glowed slowly.

He watched with Rhodey, praying it wasn't too late.

"Come on, baby." He said, going to her head and holding it carefully, smoothing her hair, "Wake up." He begged, "You can't leave me now."

They waited and Tony was devastated to see it not working. He put his forehead to hers and cried, "You're my hero." He told her, "You've saved me more than you know. So you have to wake up, sweetie."

She suddenly coughed and sat up, crashing her head into his. He laughed, realizing she was alive. He groaned in pain but was so focused on the fact that his daughter was alive, he could care less. He clutched her close and hugged her tight, despite the fact that she was coughing.

Rhodey was smiling and laughing, so relieved and Tony just held her tight, kissing her over and over again. He finally paused to look at her face.

She was still catching her breath and looked around, confused.

"Sadie?" he asked, smoothing the hair from her eyes, "Honey are you okay? Can you answer me?"

She looked over at him, still catching her breath, "Uncle Tony?" she asked suddenly.

His stomach turned and his eyes widened. Did she lose her memory?

"Sadie?" he started, looking devastated.

She stared at him with confusion but then smiled, "Gotcha."

He stared at her and then rolled his eyes, bringing her in for a hug, "Not funny!" he said as she giggled weakly into his chest. She put her arms around his middle and he never thought he'd love the feeling so much.

Rhodey got up, "I'll let you two have a moment, we should get there by dark." He said.

Tony nodded and held her close, not sure he could let her go, "Do me a favor and never scare me like that again." He told her, still letting his tears pour out.

"Which one, dying or faking a memory loss?" Sadie giggled.

"Someone is feeling better." Tony scoffed.

She nodded and clutched her chest, "The chest piece is fixing my ribs, believe it or not."

He kissed her head, "I am so sorry, Sadie." He said.

"Dad?" She asked.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Don't ever change." She said.

"Oh God, why?" he laughed.

"Because you always manage to save me at the end of the day." She said.

He smiled, "If you'd been listening, you'd know you're the one who always saves me."


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry it's been a while guys, I wrote the last two chapters so I uploaded them both and yes this is actually the end. Sad I know. I really hope you like it. Thanks again for all the reviews!**

…**.**

Sadie was feeling loads better now that her chest piece was back in business, but her wrist was killing her and her leg was throbbing. Good news at least being that she could walk. It was dark when they reached a pier and Sadie had been caught up to date on what was really going on. All she cared about was getting her mom out of here safely and helping her dad. Rhodey would take care of the president.

"What can I do?" Sadie asked as they both loaded their guns and got ready to climb onto the pier.

Tony and Rhodey looked at her quickly and then gave each other looks.

Rhodey was ready to tell her to sit this one out when her dad handed her something. She took it and realized it was a headpiece. She put it in her ears and could hear her dad's voice as well as Jarvis.

"You have the big job." Tony said, smiling proudly, "I'm probably going to get my parental rights taken away for this, but I'm gonna need all the help I can get."

Sadie grinned, "I won't tell if you won't." she promised.

He bent down and put a hand on her shoulder, "I want you to stay close by me. We're gonna go find Pepper. But first, I want you to say something for me."

"What is that?" Sadie asked, looking at him oddly.

He smiled, "Deploy."

"Deploy?" she said.

They were all silent and he seemed to be waiting for something.

"Dad, seriously what-OOMPH!" she grunted when something knocked her onto her stomach. She turned and Tony helped position her as a suit attached itself to her. It wasn't the same as the one from Tennessee. This one was actually pink and gold. When it finally covered her she stared at her dad.

"Okay…" she said, grinning; "Now this suit I can live with."

He laughed, "That's been hiding deep underground in my shop, one of the prototypes I made for you. It only answers to your voice."

"For cereal?!" she smiled.

"At your service Miss Stark." Jarvis answered her.

For once, she was excited to get the party started. Not only was she fully protected and her dad was asking for her help, but she was wearing a pink Iron Man suit!

"As cute as that is Tony…" Rhodey said, "And you do look pretty badass Sadie," he said quickly, "But something tells me we'll need more backup."

"On it." Tony said, "Jarvis release the hounds."

Rhodey gave Sadie a look and mouthed _release the hounds? _

She shrugged as her dad continued to talk to Jarvis and then turned to them, "Now can we scope this place out you both are bringing me down." He smiled.

Sadie rolled her eyes and began to follow him.

She was able to use her suit to look around and assess the number of people they were dealing with as well as try and find her mom.

"Find Mom, Jarvis." She said in her suit.

"Scanning the perimeter." Jarvis said as she looked around.

Meanwhile, Tony and Rhodey didn't have the heart to tell Sadie they'd found the president. He was strung up for all to see in the Iron Patriot and it looked pretty bad.

"Dad, I found her!" Sadie cried excitedly.

"SHH!" Rhodey and Tony said, dragging her behind some bins.

"Dad, I know where Mom is!" Sadie whispered loudly.

"That's great, but let's wait until Daddy's back up arrives." Tony said as he and Rhodey looked around.

Sadie noticed as the guards everywhere would glow with fire, "I'm gonna need a whole lot of serious therapy after this." She mumbled.

"Make's two of us." Tony muttered back.

"Tony that's a lot of Extremis we gotta deal with."Rhodey admitted, "And we don't have nearly enough ammo."

"Not for long." Tony smiled and Sadie looked over as she heard something.

She looked up and her mouth dropped as multiple suits came flying out of nowhere and positioned themselves all around the pier.

She and Rhodey stared at the variety of suits and Sadie finally looked at her dad, "As much as I hate you for making all of these during my ballet recital…I'm not gonna lie…that's totally boss."

"Now that's what I call down time." Rhodey smiled.

"Everybody needs a hobby." Tony said, "Jarvis, target any and all Extremis threats and take them out. I repeat, take them out."

Sadie watched as her dad spread his arms proudly and she rolled her eyes.

"Boys…take 'em to church!" he commanded.

Sadie was amazed at how each suit responded to her father's commands and even Rhodey was impressed.

The whole place began to light up and shake.

"Dad!" Sadie yelled, "I'm going to find Mom!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait up!" he called.

Too late and she took off, managing to avoid extra suits shooting up bad guys. She decided to have a little fun herself and found a target. She recognized him from before. He'd broken her wrist. She smiled and pulled her helmet up so he could see her.

"Hey ass hole!" she yelled, "Watch me use my wrist now!"

She shot him dead in the face and was thrown back a little from the impact, laughing as he exploded, "Shatter my wrist, I'll shatter you!" she muttered as one of her dad's suits helped balance her again.

"Thanks!" she mumbled to it and took off to where she knew her mom was, "Give me a boost and shoot me through that window." She told the suit.

"As you wish Miss Stark." Jarvis answered and the suit managed to thrust her forward. She crashed through a window, rolling in. She looked up and saw her mom still attached to the machine from before. She stared in horror as her mom began to glow like the Extremis victims.

"MOM!" she yelled and Pepper looked up at her in shock.

"Sadie?"

Sadie ran over and was suddenly knocked over. She looked up and stared in horror as Killian stood there holding a large metal pipe, advancing on her.

"Well look who decided to come home." He laughed.

She glared at him, "Let my mom go!" she yelled, standing up, "So help me God I'll-"

"You'll what?" he teased, "You gonna spray me in sparkles and rainbows?" he laughed, ""Nice suit. Did somebody visit Disneyland to get it?" he taunted.

She glared and held up her hand.

"Go ahead." He teased, holding his arms out, "Give me your best shot, Princess."

She grinned and shot everything she had at him and knocked him back, "That's for my mom." She said as he slowly got up, burned and all.

She ran to her mom and managed to get her out of the machine.

"Oh Sadie!" Pepper cried, wanting to reach out and hold her, but her arms were burning and she was so scared of hurting her.

"It's okay Mom, we'll get out of here." Sadie promised, helping her mom carefully out of the machine.

"Warning, incoming explosion." Jarvis said.

Sadie turned and both she and her mom were thrown back from an explosion.

Her dad came in just in time to find them both.

"Sade's!" he called.

"Here!" Sadie coughed, "Get Mom!"

"Pepper!" he called.

Sadie tried looking for her and was devastated to see her underneath a lot of rubble, struggling.

She tried getting up and realized her body was trapped as well. She used her suit to try and get out while her dad tried getting Pepper out.

Sadie shrieked as they were all separated as the container continued to break from the explosion. Sadie had seconds to get out before she fell underneath her end. Her dad was in the middle, looking at both of them. Sadie was trapped and Pepper was trapped.

"Sadie!" Pepper yelled, pointing to her, "Tony just get Sadie!"

"I can get out!" Sadie called back. She looked down and realized that if both she and her mom fell they would both not only be crushed by the containers, but also destroyed by the flames below them.

She struggled to get out and finally used her gauntlets to shoot herself backwards. Only a wire had wrapped itself around her. She struggled, trying to get out of it and was so close when the whole thing fell. She reached out and someone grabbed her hand. She looked up and saw her dad holding her hand, struggling to pull her up.

Sadie finally made a decision, "Jarvis get this suit off me!" she yelled.

The suit opened and Sadie caught her dad's hand as it fell with the container to the ground. He pulled her up finally and both looked to Pepper who was smiling that Sadie was all right but still reaching towards them.

"Hang on Mom!" Sadie called as she and Tony crawled to reach for her.

"Honey just take my hand, I promise I'll catch you!" Tony called to her.

"It's okay Mom! We'll get you!" Sadie said, holding her dad's shirt and reaching for her mom as well.

"Sadie!" Pepper cried, "Tony! I-"

Everyone screamed as she fell into the flames.

"MOMMY!" Sadie cried, her dad having to hold her back from going over the edge, "NO! Mommy!" she cried. Her dad stared into the flames in shock and held Sadie to him.

Sadie struggled, "NO! We have to go find her!" she yelled.

"Sadie! Sadie!" he cried, shaking her quickly. She looked up at him, devastated.

"She's gone." He choked out, "G-gone."

Sadie burrowed her head into his chest and sobbed when they heard a voice nearby. Both looked up and saw Killian smiling.

"Jarvis," Tony ordered, "get Sadie out of here while I take care of this son of a bitch."

Sadie stood up and glared at Killian.

"Sorry that's like two mother's I've just taken from you, huh Sadie." He laughed.

She roared as Tony held her back, "I got this Sade's." he told her.

"No!" she yelled, "I'm not losing you too!"

"You have to believe me this time Sade's." He told her, "I'm gonna take care of this clown for your mom. I promise you that."

She looked from him to a burning Killian and nodded, looking up at her dad, "Make him suffer." She said as a suit landed by her to take her down and away to safety.

"That I can promise you." He said, "Now go."

She nodded and gave him one final hug as he kissed her head. She backed away and let the suit carry her down.

"Whatever you do, do not leave Sadie's side." Tony ordered the suit.

"Yes sir." It answered.

Sadie was lowered to the ground and looked up at the fight between Killian and her dad while the suit stood guard over her.

Many suits were destroyed and her dad was getting pretty badly beat up, but he kept going.

Sadie watched and listened as Killian continued to taunt her dad, saying how Sadie was next while her dad continued to fight him. She suddenly looked up as a few suit pieces whizzed by her.

Her dad was ready for it…only to have it crash around him. Sadie groaned, wishing she could still have her suit to finish this ass hole off, when she had an idea. She looked up at how much Killian was burning.

"Dad!" she yelled, "Give him the suit!"

"What?!" he yelled back.

"Give him the suit! He's burning up!" she yelled again.

His face brightened.

Killian advanced, "Shame really about Pepper. You didn't deserve her, Tony. I almost had her perfect too."

"Yeah, you're right, I didn't deserve her, but Sadie did. And you're wrong about one other thing." Tony said.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Jarvis, connect to Killian!"

Killian yelled as the suit attached itself to him.

Tony stood up, "She was already perfect."

He jumped away when the whole thing exploded. He managed to get down on the ground and collapse for a minute.

Sadie ran to him and screamed when fire shot out in front of her. She looked over and watched in horror as Killian reformed in front of her, advancing. She ran to her dad, quickly who caught her. The suit got in front of her but Killian destroyed it quickly.

"You really think you and your little brat can stop me Tony? Me?" Killian laughed, "God I'm going to enjoy watching you both die right here, right now."

Tony held Sadie and pulled her behind him, trying to shield her.

"You haven't realized by now who I truly am?!" Killian roared, "I am the MANDARIN! I am-OOMPH!"

Tony and Sadie looked up, shocked as Pepper came out of nowhere with a pipe and knocked him to the wall quite a few times. She glared at him, "That's for my daughter you pathetic piece of-"

They heard something and looked up. One of Tony's suits was headed for Pepper.

"Daddy! She has the Extremis virus!" Sadie cried.

"Jarvis, the target is not a threat! I repeat she is not a threat! Stop!" Tony cried out.

Pepper jumped up and delivered a kick in the air and smashed the suit down on the ground while attaching a gauntlet to her hand to finally take out Killian.

She turned and took the gauntlet off and looked at Tony and Sadie nervously, "Oh my God…that was really violent." She murmured.

"I got nothing." Tony said, still lying on the ground.

Sadie shot up and ran to her.

"No!" Pepper cried, "I might burn you!" she said, looking devastated.

"It's okay, Mommy." Sadie said, "I know you won't."

Tony got up as well, and helped show Pepper that she wasn't going to burn them. Pepper was so happy about this that she scooped Sadie up and kissed her head over and over again, holding her tight, "Oh my sweet girl!" she cried, "I'm so glad you're okay."

Tony came over to her and smiled; she brought him in and let him hug her, Sadie in between the two of them.

"What happened to me? Am I gonna be okay?" Pepper asked him, her hand on Sadie's head, still rocking her.

"No." Tony said simply, looking at her and Sadie, "Neither of you are going to be okay as long as your with me. But the good thing is that I'm a mechanic. I fix things. We'll fix this." He said.

Sadie looked over at him and smiled. He kissed her head again and then looked at Pepper, "We're a family. We're dysfunctional, we have problems. But it's nothing we can't fix. Together we'll do it." He promised.

Pepper smiled sadly, crying, "Tony, nothing will ever be fixed as long as you keep doing this." She said.

"How about I do something different then?" he smiled, "Wanna see your Christmas present?" he asked.

She looked up at him strangely, Sadie as well. He hugged them closer, "Jarvis…activate operation clean slate." He ordered.

Sadie and Pepper had no clue what that meant until all of his suits destroyed themselves making fireworks above them.

There they were on Christmas, on a destroyed, flaming pier surrounded by death and destruction of bad guys, with fireworks going off. But the only thing they seemed to care about what the fact that Tony held both Sadie and Pepper to him and did what he did best…he fixed things.

"So, Pep, you like the gift?" he asked her.

"It'll do." She smiled, crying and holding him.

"Sade's?" he asked her.

She sighed and looked up, "It's nice but…"

"But what?" Tony laughed.

"I kind of wanted a puppy." She admitted.

Pepper and Tony laughed while he tickled her, "A puppy?! I got you a manatee!"

She giggled as he held her and Pepper smiled at them. Through it all, she had to admit this was indeed the best Christmas she'd ever had. Granted she'd been tortured and nearly died, almost losing both her parents in the process, but the best part was her dad saving the day. Not Iron Man, her dad. And even better was the promises he always managed to keep. He was a playboy, a billionaire, a hero…but he was her dad and that was the hero she always loved at the end of the day. She'd almost lost him in more ways than one, but he always came back to her. She smiled thinking about how worried she was that this Christmas would be the worst ever, feeling as though she were losing everything, the feelings of anger and hurt coursing through her. But now she just felt…relieved and happy. This Christmas she definitely got her wish. She got her dad back and that wasn't something you needed a tree or a stocking for. However…

"Uh Dad?" Sadie suddenly asked, "Where are we going to live?"


	10. Chapter 10

Sadie gave her dad the thumbs up from behind the glass. He returned it and smiled at her. She stood next to her mom and Rhodey as her dad underwent a surgery he'd needed for so long. He was finally getting the shrapnel removed from his chest. He would no longer need his chest piece. A part of her was sad because she would no longer feel connected to him, something she'd admitted to him the night before.

"_Dad?" she'd asked, "I spent my whole life trying to be different from you and when you put this inside of me, you connected me to you. But now I won't have that." She'd admitted. _

_He had smiled at her and held her in his lap. Both enjoying the fire of his second home he'd purchased. It was small and quaint, but did the job for them all while they were rebuilding a new home. _

"_Sade's, I'll always be connected to you." He'd said, "You don't need a matching chest piece to prove that."_

_She looked down sadly, "I'll be different, and I'll be a freak. I'm not Iron Man, you are." _

_He laughed at that, "You're right, you will be different. But you're not a freak, and you certainly aren't Iron Man, we both know I am." _

"_But will you still be Iron Man without your chest piece?" she'd asked._

_He nodded, "Always. And I'll always be your dad. I'll always be right here." He pointed to her heart. Not her chest piece, her heart. _

_She smiled and felt better knowing that he may be giving up his chest piece that separated him from the rest, but he was still a hero and he would continue to be a hero. _

Now here she was, watching as they operated on him. For once she wasn't on the table and it felt strange but she was so proud nonetheless as the shrapnel came out of his chest and her dad was made better again.

He'd come home the next day and finally asked Sadie to go on a little trip with him. She'd wondered where on earth they were going and why there was a trailer attached to his car, when her stomach dropped.

They were at the site of his destroyed house. He parked the car and both got out. He walked her over where a couple of men were and Sadie squealed in delight seeing Dummy and U. He'd found them and brought them back. She ran over to them, observing them and watched as the two men helped Tony get them onto the trailer. The men left and Sadie took that time to look around. It was strangely empty, almost like there was never a house here. She walked closer to the edge of the cliff and looked out at the view she was so used to seeing from the living room window. He came up next to her, holding a bag. She looked at it and saw him take out his chest piece.

She looked up at him and smiled. He smiled back and tossed it into the ocean.  
"What happens now?" Sadie asked him.

"Well, that's the fun part." He admitted, his hand going to her shoulder, "I have no clue. But then again…starting over is always a challenge."  
"And you like a challenge." Sadie smiled.

He nodded, looking out into the ocean.

"I never thought I'd live to be ten, let alone much older." Sadie admitted, "I was raised my whole life to die…and now I get to live. I'm kind of scared."

He nodded at that and smiled at her, "That's the funny thing about clean slates." He said, "They always come when you least expect."

"I don't know how I feel about all this…starting over." Sadie said, shrugging.

He smiled, "You don't have to know how to feel, you just have to try."

"Have you been reading Dear Abby?" Sadie laughed.

He chuckled, "No…I've just learned how to be a father."

She leaned into him, "No offense, but you could still use some work."

"I know, but that's where you come in handy."

She giggled and he held her next to him, staring out at the horizon.

He turned to her, "Promise you'll still be my biggest fan?" he asked.

She smiled up at him and nodded, "You may be Iron Man, but you're still my dad and that's who I love the most."

"I wouldn't want it any other way." He said, getting down and hugging her.

He got up and looked around once more, making a weird face, "Let's go before I see ghosts."

She giggled, "You know they only follow me around."

He shivered at that and chuckled walking her to his car.

She got in and both drove off. He turned on the radio and found "Trouble" by Taylor Swift. As much as he desperately wanted to turn the station, he couldn't help but love hearing Sadie's rendition and screaming as she sang along to it.

By the time he got home with her, his ears were probably bleeding.

"Remind me to either get you vocal lessons or never let you near a microphone." He laughed.

She punched him playfully and got out to see Pepper coming out the door holding something.

"Oh and I should probably warn you…" he said smiling walking up with her.

Sadie looked closer at what Pepper was holding and shrieked loudly, causing Tony to roll his eyes into his head and cover his ears.

Pepper got down and showed Sadie their new puppy. It was a tiny little miniature dachshund puppy, the color of copper, just big enough to fit into Pepper's hands. It whined a little and Sadie took it carefully into her arms and cuddled it.

"For me?" she grinned.

"Merry Late Christmas." Tony said, getting down and staring at the dog, then he looked up at Pepper, "I thought it'd be bigger and more manly." He said.

"It is a boy." Pepper told him, smiling at the sweet little puppy.

"God, poor guy's gonna have some butch issues." Tony muttered.

"I'm calling him…Buster." Sadie said happily.

"I love it." Pepper smiled.

"That name kind of strikes fear into my heart for other reasons." Tony muttered. God this dog was going to cause chaos in his household. He totally didn't trust that innocent, cute, adorable, mischievous, annoying, and absolutely sweet little face…

"Let's go inside!" Pepper said, standing up.

Sadie put the puppy down and Tony watched as it waddled into the house playfully sniffing. Sadie giggled running after it. Tony couldn't help but feel he was home and there were no gadgets, no workshops, no suits…just him and his family; and now a puppy that was peeing on the rug.

Yep…he was home.

**The End**

**Sadie will return in future stories…**

_**I'm so glad you have all been here with me to this point. And now for the sad news…I am not going to be writing for a while. Possibly all of summer. I am finishing a couple of other stories on fanfic and then I am taking a small break. I should return in the fall hopefully. It has been amazing though and I know I couldn't have done it without you all. For those of you who have reviewed my stories like crazy from the beginning and there are so many of you who are amazing, I love you all! **_

_**And because you are all so awesome and I do love you I have a small little snippet here for you to enjoy! Have a great summer!**_

…

Harley got off the bus and walked to his shed. He'd had a fairly normal day but he'd been feeling down lately. He had no clue what had happened to Sadie and Tony other than in the news saying that they were alive and well. But for real? He'd been here helping them, shoot he'd tried to save Sadie, the least they could do was at least give him a call.

He trudged through the snow and got inside. What he didn't expect to see was his entire shed filled with new gadgets that were up to date filling the place. His smile widened as he looked around at all the cool stuff. He laughed and walked deeper inside. This had to be a dream, had to be. He came up to the newest robot gadget and jumped a foot in the air when he heard a voice behind him.

"Dad wanted me to deliver a message to you."

He turned and smiled as Sadie stood there, hands behind her back, shyly smiling at him.

He ran over and hugged her, so happy she was here and well.

She looked amazing! She'd obviously curled her hair a little and was wearing winter clothes that didn't look oversized this time.

"All this for me?" he smiled.

She nodded, "Dad wanted me to say thank you for all your help and he wants you to know that you're a very good friend."

He couldn't help but feel extremely proud of himself.

She looked around as well, "He also thought it would be good if I showed you a few of the things as well." She smiled, leading him over to some of the gadgets.

He watched and enjoyed himself as they both experimented with a few of his new toys Tony had given him.

"Wow!" he said excitedly, "This is better than…than Legos!"

"Slow down, champ." She laughed, "Lego's are still the king of toys in my opinion."

He had to agree with that.

"So are you staying?" he asked her.

She shrugged, "I'm getting picked up around dark but we have time."

He was a little sad about that, "I wish you could stay longer." He admitted.

She smiled at him, "Well, I get off school in June, my dad is thinking of taking a vacation with my family and we may come here to visit." She said.

He smiled at that, "I could totally show you around the woods here. I know where all the lakes are and all the wild animals!"

"I'd like that!" she said happily.

"And do you Skype and stuff?" he asked her.

She nodded.

"Well, if you want we can Skype after school a couple times a week or something."

"Yeah!" she smiled, "We'll be like…pen pals!"

"Or…" he started, blushing a little, "Yeah, pen pals." He said this time.

Sadie grinned at him and narrowed her eyes. She helped him set up his new robot when he finally asked her what had happened when she was taken. She looked at him awkwardly, "Maybe I'll tell you some other time. But I will tell you that my dad and I are fine now." She admitted.

He was fine with that, "Tell you what, we never got to talk about our favorite music or anything, why don't we just start over from there."

She liked that idea and soon enough, both of them were talking about their schools and their favorite foods and music and colors and movies that they'd talked all through to dinner time. Sadie and Harley had quite a lot in common and a few differences but they found that they really liked one another and Sadie was happy to have found a friend that she could talk to.

"You know…" Harley said, "If you ever need to talk about anything, you can just call me or something." He said.

"Same." Sadie told him, "And hey! You can come to my birthday party this year!" she said.

"When is it?" he asked excitedly.

"Not until May, but you are totally coming. Dad said we're gonna have it at Disneyland this year."

Harley smiled widely, "I've never been!"

"Then it's settled, you are coming." Sadie told him.

They heard a car honk outside and Sadie knew it was her ride. She sighed and hugged him goodbye. He hugged her tightly and wanted to tell her how much he really liked her, but was too shy.

He was relieved of that when Sadie gave him a kiss on the cheek and smiled as she walked out to the car.

He stood there smiling to himself, holding his cheek a little and then waved to her. When the car had left, he couldn't help but punch the air in victory.

….

As Sadie was driven to her dad's jet, she couldn't help but wonder about Harrow and Ali. Where had he gone? And what did he mean when he told the Mandarin about what he wanted with her? There were a lot of unanswered questions that still roamed her mind, but these days she was content to just have her dad and mom, Buster and Harley to really care. Harrow and Parker and even Ali could find her again and try to separate her from her family and friends, but one thing she knew for certain, was that she was ready this time. She had SHIELD and Iron Man on her side and not to mention all her friends who would vouch for her in her time of need.

Harley was proof that no matter how messy things got, she always made a friend and an ally and even if they tried to take her away, she knew her dad would always come to save the day and now she could save herself.

She finally pushed that mess from her mind and thought about Harley as she got on the jet to go back home. He was so sweet and she really liked him. He reminded her of Steve. And she loved Steve. Harley, like Steve, understood her and cared about her the way a friend should. Sure she had Polly and Tanner, but they were the ones who kept her laughing and always had her back. But Harley…he was different. And she liked that about him. She had no clue about what a boyfriend entailed but she knew she didn't need one right now. Plus her dad would throw a fit.

She smiled and fell asleep on the jet and dreamed. Only it was a good dream; it had Harley in it.


End file.
